I.
(1.1) The treatise before this one has contained our opinions on those visions
sent from heaven which are classed under the first species; in reference to
which subject we delivered our opinion that the Deity sent the appearances which
are beheld by man in dreams in accordance with the suggestions of his own
nature. But in this treatise we will, to the best of our power, describe those
dreams which come under the second species. (1.2) Now the second species is that
in which our mind, being moved simultaneously with the mind of the universe, has
appeared to be hurried away by itself and to be under the influence of divine
impulses, so as to be rendered capable of comprehending beforehand, and knowing
by anticipation some of the events of the future. Now the first dream which is
akin to the species which I have been describing, is that which appeared on the
ladder which reached up to heaven, and which was of this kind. (1.3) "And
Jacob dreamed, and behold a ladder was firmly planted on the earth, the head of
which reached up to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending
on it. And behold there was a ladder firmly planted on the earth, and the Lord
was standing steadily upon it; and he said, I am the God of Abraham thy father,
and the God of Isaac: be not afraid. The earth on which thou art sleeping I will
give unto thee and unto thy seed, and thy seed shall be as the dust of the
earth, and it shall be multiplied as the sand on the seashore, and shall spread
to the south, and to the north, and to the east; and in thee shall all the
kindreds of the earth be blessed, and in thy seed also. And, behold, I am with
thee, keeping thee in all thy ways, by whichever thou goest, and I will bring
thee again into this land; because I will not leave thee until I have done
everything which I have said unto Thee."{1}{Genesis 28:12.} (1.4) But the
previous considerations of the circumstances of this vision require that we
should examine them with accuracy, and then perhaps we shall be able to
comprehend what is indicated by the vision. What, then, are the previous
circumstances? The scripture tells us, "And Jacob went up from the well of
the oath, and came to Charran, and went into a place and lay down there until
the sun arose. And he took one of the stones of the place and placed it at his
head, and went to sleep in that place." And immediately afterwards came the
dream. (1.5) Therefore it is well at the outset to raise a question on these
three points:--One, What was the well of the oath, {2}{Genesis 26:33.} and why
was it called by this name? Secondly, What is Charran, and why, after Jacob had
departed from the well beforementioned, did he immediately go to Charran?
Thirdly, What was the place, and why, when he was in it, did the sun at once
set, and did he go to sleep?

II.
(1.6) Let us then at once begin and consider the first of these points. To me,
then, the well appears to be an emblem of knowledge; for its nature is not
superficial, but very deep. Nor does it lie in an open place, but a well is fond
of being hidden somewhere in secret. Nor is it found with ease, but only after
great labor and with difficulty; and this too is seen to be the case with
sciences, not only with such as have great and indescribable subjects of
speculation, but even with respect to such as are the most insignificant. (1.7)
Choose, therefore, whichever art you please; not the most excellent, but even
the must obscure of all, which perhaps no one who has been bred a free man in
the whole city would ever study of his own accord, and which scarcely any
servant in the field would attend to, who, against his will, was a slave to some
morose and ill-tempered master who compelled him to do many unpleasant things.
(1.8) For the matter will be found to be not a simple one, but rather one of
great complications and variety, not easy to be seized upon, but difficult to
discover, difficult to master, hostile to delay, and indolence and indifference,
full of earnestness and contention, and sweat, and care. For which reason
"those who dig in this well say that they cannot find even water in
it;" because the ends of science are not only hard to discover, but are
even altogether undiscoverable; (1.9) and it is owing to this that one man is
more thoroughly skilled in grammar or in geometry than another, because of its
being impossible to circumscribe, increase, and extend one within certain
limits; for there is always more that is left behind than what comes to be
learnt; and what is left watches for and catches the learner, so that even he
who fancies that he has comprehended and mastered the very extremities of
knowledge would be considered but half perfect by another person who was his
judge, and if he were before the tribunal of truth would appear to be only
beginning knowledge; (1.10) for life is short, as some one has said, but art is
long; of which that man most thoroughly comprehends the magnitude, who sincerely
and honestly plunges deeply into it, and who digs it out like a well. And such a
man, when he is at the point of death, being now grey-headed and exceedingly
old, it is said, wept, not that he feared death as being a coward, but out of a
desire for instruction, as feeling that he was now, for the first time, entering
upon it when he was finally departing from life. (1.11) For the soul flourishes
for the pursuit of knowledge when the prime vigor of the body is withering away
from the lapse of time; therefore, before one has arrived at one's prime and
vigor by reason of a more accurate comprehension of things, it is not difficult
to be tripped up. But this accident is common to all people who are fond of
learning, to whom new subjects of contemplation are continually rising up and
striving after old ones, the soul itself producing many such subjects when it is
not barren and unproductive. And nature, also, unexpectedly and spontaneously
displaying a great number to those who are gifted with acute and penetrating
intellects. Therefore the well of knowledge is shown to be of this kind, having
no boundary and no end. (1.12) We must now explain why it was called the well of
the oath. Those matters which are doubted about are decided by an oath, and
those which are uncertain are confirmed in the same manner, and so, too, those
which want certification receive it; from which facts this inference is drawn,
that there is no subject respecting which any one can make an affirmation with
greater certainty than he can respecting the fact that the race of wisdom is
without limitation and without end. (1.13) It is well, therefore, to enrol one's
self under the banners of one who discusses these matters without an oath; but
he who is not very much inclined to assent to the assertions of another will at
least assent to them when he has made oath to their correctness. But let no one
refuse to take an oath of this kind, well knowing that he will have his name
inscribed on pillars among those who are faithful to their oaths.

III.
(1.14) However, enough of this. The next thing must be to consider why it is
that as four wells had been dug by the servants of Abraham and Isaac, the fourth
and last was called the well of the oath. (1.15) May it not be that sacred
historian here desires to represent, in a figurative manner, that as in the
universe there are four elements of which this world is composed, and as there
are an equal number in ourselves, of which we have been fashioned before we were
moulded into our human shape, three of them are capable of being comprehended
somehow or other, but the fourth is unintelligible to all who come forward as
judges of it. (1.16) Accordingly, we find that the four elements in the world
are the earth, and the water, and the air, and the heaven, of which, even if
some are difficult to find, they are still not classed in the utterly
undiscoverable portion. (1.17) For that the earth, because it is a heavy, and
indissoluble, and solid substance, is divided into mountains and champaign
districts, and intersected by rivers and seas, so that some portion of it
consists of islands, and some portions are continent. And again, some of it has
a shallow and some a deep soil; and some is rough, and rugged, and strong, and
altogether barren; and some is smooth and delicate, and exceedingly fertile; and
besides all these facts we know a great number of others relative to the earth.
(1.18) And again, there is the water, which we know has many of the aforesaid
qualities in common with the earth, and many also peculiar to itself; for some
of it is sweet, and some brackish, and some is mixed up of various
characteristics; and some is good to drink, and some is not drinkable; and,
moreover, neither of these last qualities is invariable with respect to every
creature, but there are some to which it is the one and not the other, and vice
versa. Again, some water is by nature cold, and other water naturally hot;
(1.19) for there is in all sorts of places an infinite number of springs pouring
forth hot water, not on the land only but even in the sea: at all events, there
have appeared before now veins pouring up warm water in the middle of the sea,
which all the enormous efflux of salt water in all the sea that encircles the
world, pouring over them from all eternity, has never been able to extinguish,
nor even in the least degree to diminish. (1.20) Again, we know that the air has
an attractive nature, yielding to such bodies as surround it in an altitude of
resistance, being the organ of life, and breath, and sight, and hearing, and all
the rest of the external senses, admitting of rarification, and condensation,
and motion, and tranquility, and changes, and variations of every kind, by which
it is altered and modified, and generating summers and winters, and the seasons
of autumn and spring, by means of which the circle of the year is the last
brought to a conclusion.

IV.
(1.21) All these things, then, we feel: but the heaven has a nature which is
incomprehensible, and it has never conveyed to us any distinct indication by
which we can understand its nature; for what can we say? that it is solid ice,
as some persons have chosen to assert? or that it is the purest fire? or that it
is a fifth body, moving in a circle having no participation in any of the four
elements? For what can we say? Has that most remote sphere of the fixed stars
any density in an upward direction? or is it merely a superficies devoid of all
depth, something like a plane figure? (1.22) And what are the stars? Are they
masses of earth full of fire? For some persons have said that they are hills,
and valleys, and thickets, men who are worthy of a prison and a treadmill, or of
any place where there are instruments proper for the punishment of impious
persons; or are they, as some one has defined them, a continuous and dense
harmony, the closely packed, indissoluble mass of aether? Again, are they
animated and intelligent? or are they destitute alike of mind and vitality? Have
they their motions in consequence of any choice of their own? or merely because
they are compulsory? (1.23) What, again, are we to say of the moon? Does she
show us a light of her own, or a borrowed and illegitimate one, only reflected
from the rays of the sun? or is neither of these things true, but has she
something mixed, as it were, so as to be a sort of combination of her own light
and of that which belongs to some other body? For all these things, and others
like them, belonging to the fourth and most excellent of the bodies in the
world, namely, the heaven, are uncertain and incomprehensible, and are spoken of
in accordance with conjectures and guesses, and not with the solid, certain
reasoning of truth, (1.24) so that a person might venture to swear that no
mortal man will ever be able to comprehend any one of these matters clearly. At
all events, the fourth and dry well was called the well of the oath on this
account, because the search after the fourth element in the world, that is to
say the heaven, is without any result, and is in every respect fruitless.

V.
But let us now see in what manner that fourth element in us is by nature in such
an especial and singular manner incomprehensible. (1.25) There are, then, four
principal elements in us, the body, the external sense, the speech, and the
mind. Now of these, three are not uncertain or unintelligible in every respect,
but they contain some indication in themselves by which they are comprehended.
(1.26) Now what is my meaning in this statement? We know already that the body
is divisible into three parts, and that it is capable of motion in six
directions, inasmuch as it has three dimensions, in length, in depth, in
breadth; and twice as many motions, namely six, the upward motion, the downward
motion, that to the right, that to the left, the forward, and the backward
motion. But, moreover, we are not ignorant that it is the vessel of the soul;
and we are also aware that it is subject to the changes of being young, of
decaying, of growing old, of dying, of undergoing dissolution. (1.27) And with
respect to the outward senses, we are not, so far as that is concerned, utterly
dull and mutilated, but we are able to say that that also is divided into five
divisions, and that there are appropriate organs for the development of each
sense formed by nature; for instance, the eyes for seeing, the ears for hearing,
the nostrils for smelling, and the other organs for the exercise of the
respective senses to which they are adapted, and also that we may call these
outward senses messengers of the mind which inform it of colors, and shapes and
sounds, and the peculiar differences of vapours, and flavors, and, in short,
which describe to it all bodies, and all the distinctive qualities which exist
in them. They also may be looked upon as body-guards of the soul, informing it
of all that they see or hear; and if anything injurious attacks it from without,
they foresee it, and guard against it, so that it may not enter by chance and
unawares, and so become the cause of irremediable disaster to their mistress.
(1.28) Again, the voice does not entirely escape our comprehension; but we know
that one voice is shrill and another deep; that one is tuneful and harmonious,
and another dissonant and very unmusical; and again, one voice is more powerful,
and another less so. And they differ also in ten thousand other particulars, in
kind, in complexion, in distance, in combined and separate tension of the tones,
in the symphonies of fourths, of fifths, and of the diapason. (1.29) Moreover,
there are some things which we know also with respect to that articulate voice
which has been allotted to man alone of all animals, as, for instance, we know
that it is emitted by the mind, that it receives its articulate distinctness in
the mouth, that it is by the striking of the tongue that articulate utterance is
impressed upon the tones of the voice, and which renders the uttered sound not
only a bare, naked, useless noise, void of all characteristic, and that it
discharges the office of a herald or interpreter towards the mind which suggests
it.

VI.
(1.30) Now then is the fourth element which exists within us, the dominant mind,
comprehensible to us in the same manner as these other divisions? Certainly not;
for what do we think it to be in its essence? Do we look upon it as spirit, or
as blood, or, in short, as any bodily substance! But it is not a substance, but
must be pronounced incorporeal. Is it then a limit, or a species, or a number,
or a continued act, or a harmony, or any existing thing whatever? (1.31) Is it,
the very first moment that we are born, infused into us from without, or is it
some warm nature in us which is cooled by the air which is diffused around us,
like a piece of iron which has been heated at a forge, and then being plunged
into cold water, is by that process tempered and hardened? (And perhaps it is
from the cooling process [psyxis] to which it is thus submitted that the soul
[heÁ psycheÁ] derives its name.) What more shall we say? When we die, is it
extinguished and destroyed together with our bodies? or does it continue to live
a long time? or, thirdly, is it wholly incorruptible and immortal? (1.32) Again,
where, in what part does this mind lie hid? Has it received any settled
habitation? For some men have dedicated it to our head, as the principal
citadel, around which all the outward senses have their lairs; thinking it
natural that its body-guards should be stationed near it, as near the palace of
a mighty king. Some again contend earnestly in favor of the position which they
assign it, believing that it is enshrined like a statue in the heart. (1.33)
Therefore now the fourth element is incomprehensible, in the world of heaven, in
comparison of the nature of the earth, of the water, and of the air; and the
mind in man, in comparison of the body and the outward sense, and the speech,
which is the interpreter of the mind; may it not be the case also, that for this
reason the fourth year is described as holy and praiseworthy in the sacred
scriptures? (1.34) For among created things, the heaven is holy in the world, in
accordance with which body, the imperishable and indestructible natures revolve;
and in man the mind is holy, being a sort of fragment of the Deity, and
especially according to the statement of Moses, who says, "God breathed
into his face the breath of life, and man became a living Soul."{3}{Genesis
2:7.} (1.35) And it appears to me, that it is not without reason that both these
things are called praiseworthy; for these two things, the heaven and the mind,
are the things which are able to utter, with all becoming dignity, the praises,
and hymns, and glory, and beatitude of the Father who created them: for man has
received an especial honor beyond all other animals, namely, that of ministering
to the living God. And the heaven is always singing melodies, perfecting an
all-musical harmony, in accordance with the motions of all the bodies which
exist therein; (1.36) of which, if the sound ever reached our ears, love, which
could not be restrained, and frantic desires, and furious impetuosity, which
could not be put an end to or pacified, would be engendered, and would compel us
to give up even what is necessary, nourishing ourselves no longer like ordinary
mortals on the meat and drink, which is received by means of our throat, but on
the inspired songs of music in its highest perfection, as persons about to be
made immortal through the medium of their ears: and it is said that
Moses{4}{Exodus 24:18.} was an incorporeal hearer of these melodies, when he
went for forty days, and an equal number of nights, without at all touching any
bread or any water.

VII.
(1.37) Therefore the heaven, which is the archetypal organ of music, appears to
have been arranged in a most perfect manner, for no other object except that the
hymns sung to the honor of the Father of the universe, might be attuned in a
musical manner; and we hear that virtue, that is to say, Leah, {5}{Genesis
29:35.} after the birth of her fourth son, was no longer able to bring forth any
more, but restrained, or perhaps I should say, was restrained, as to her
generative powers; for she found, I conceive, all her generative power dry and
barren, after she had brought forth Judah, that is to say,
"confession," the perfect fruit: (1.38) and the phrase, "Leah
desisted from bearing children," differs in no respect from the statement,
that the children of Isaac found no water in the fourth Well."{6}{Genesis
26:32.} Since it appears from both these figurative expressions, that every
creature thirsts for God, by whom all their births take place, and from whom
nourishment is bestowed to them when they are born. (1.39) Perhaps therefore
some petty cavilling critics will imagine that all this statement about the
digging of the wells is a superfluous piece of prolixity on the part of the
lawgiver: but those who deserve a larger classification, being citizens not of
some petty state but of the wide world, being men of more perfect wisdom, will
know well that the real question is not about the four wells, but about the
parts of the universe that the men who are gifted with sight, and are fond of
contemplation exercise their powers of investigation; namely, about the earth,
the water, the air, and the heaven. (1.40) And examining each of these matters
with the most accurately refined conception, in three of them they have found
some things within the reach of their comprehension; on which account they have
given these names, injustice, enmity, and latitude to what they have discovered.
But in the fourth, that is to say in heaven, they have found absolutely nothing
whatever, which they could comprehend; as we explained a little time ago: for
the fourth is found to be a well destitute of water, and dry; and for the reason
above mentioned it is called a well.

VIII.
(1.41) We will now investigate what comes next, and inquire what Charran is, and
why the man who went up from the well came to it. Charran then, as it appears to
me, is a sort of metropolis of the outward senses: and it is interpreted at one
time a pit dug, at another time holes; one fact being intimated by both these
names; (1.42) for our bodies are in a manner dug out to furnish the organs of
the outward senses, and each of the organs is a sort of hole for the
corresponding outward sense in which it shelters itself as in a cave: when
therefore any one goes up from the well which is called the well of the oath, as
if he were leaving a harbor, he immediately does of necessity come to Charran:
for it is a matter of necessity that the outward senses should receive one who
comes on an emigration from that most excellent country of knowledge, unbounded
as it is in extent, without any guide. (1.43) For our soul is very often set in
motion by is own self after it has put off the whole burden of the body, and has
escaped from the multitude of the outward senses; and very often too, even while
it is still clothed in them. Therefore by its own simple motion it has arrived
at the comprehension of those things which are appreciable only by the
intellect; and by the motion of the body, it has attained to an understanding of
those things which are perceptible by the outward senses; (1.44) therefore, if
any one is unable altogether to associate with the mind alone, he then finds for
himself a second refuge, namely, the external senses; and whoever fails in
attaining to a comprehension of the things which are intelligible only by the
intellect is immediately drawn over to the objects of the outward senses; for
the second organ is always to the outward senses, in the case of those things
which are not able to make a successful one as far as the dominant mind. (1.45)
But it is well for man not to grow old or to spend all his time in this course
either, but rather, as if they were straying in a foreign country like
sojourners, to be always seeking for a second migration, and for a return to
their native land. Therefore Laban, knowing absolutely nothing of either species
or genus, or form, or conception, or of anything else whatever which is
comprehended by the intellect alone, and depending solely on what lies
externally visible, and such things as come under the notice of the eyes, and
the ears, and the other hundred faculties, is thought worthy of Charran for his
country, which Jacob, the lover of virtue, inhabits as a foreign land for a
short time, always bearing in his recollection his return homewards; (1.46)
therefore his mother, perseverance, that is Rebecca, says to him, "Rise up
and flee to Laban, my brother, to Charran, and dwell with him certain
Days."{7}{Genesis 27:43.} Do you not perceive then that the practicer of
virtue will not endure to live permanently in the country of the outward senses,
but only to remain there a few days and a short time, on account of the
necessities of the body to which he is bound? But a longer time and an entire
life is allotted to him in the city which is appreciable only by the intellect.

IX.
(1.47) In reference to which fact, also, it appears to me to be that his
grandfather also, by name Abraham, so called from his knowledge, would not
endure to remain any great length of time in Charran, for it is said in the
scriptures that "Abraham was seventy-five years old when he departed from
Charran;"{8}{Genesis 12:4.} although his father Terah, which name being
interpreted means, "the investigation of a smell," lived there till
the day of is Death.{9}{Genesis 17:32.} (1.48) Therefore it is expressly stated
in the sacred scriptures that "Terah died in Charran," for he was only
a reconnoitrer of virtue, not a citizen. And he availed himself of smells, and
not of the enjoyments of food, as he was not able as yet to fill himself with
wisdom, nor indeed even to get a taste of it, but only to smell it; (1.49) for
as it is said that those dogs which are calculated for hunting can by exerting
their faculty of smell, find out the lurking places of their game at a great
distance, being by nature rendered wonderfully acute as to the outward sense of
smell; so in the same manner the lover of instruction tracks out the sweet
breeze which is given forth by justice, and by any other virtue, and is eager to
watch those qualities from which this most admirable source of delight proceeds,
and while he is unable to do so he moves his head all round in a circle,
smelling out nothing else, but seeking only for that most sacred scent of
excellence and food, for he does not deny that he is eager for knowledge and
wisdom. (1.50) Blessed therefore are they to whom it has happened to enjoy the
delights of wisdom, and to feast upon its speculations and doctrines, and even
of the being cheered by them still to thirst for more, feeling an insatiable and
increasing desire for knowledge. (1.51) And those will obtain the second place
who are not allured indeed to enjoy the sacred table, but who nevertheless
refresh their souls with its odors; for they will be excited by the fragrances
of virtue like those languid invalids who, because they are not as yet able to
take solid food, nevertheless feed on the smell of such viands as the sons of
the physicians prepare as a sort of remedy for their impotency.

X.
(1.52) Therefore, having left the land of the Chaldaeans, Terah is said to have
migrated to Charran; bringing with him his son Abraham and the rest of his
household who agreed with him in opinion, not in order that we might read in the
account of the historical chronicles that some men had become emigrants, leaving
their native country and becoming inhabitants of a foreign land as if it were
their own country, but in order that a lesson of the greatest importance to life
and full of wisdom, and adapted to man alone, might not be neglected. (1.53) And
what is the lesson? The Chaldaeans are great astronomers, and the inhabitants of
Charran occupy themselves with the topics relating to the external senses.
Therefore the sacred account says to the investigator of the things of nature,
why are you inquiring about the sun, and asking whether he is a foot broad,
whether he is greater than the whole earth put together, or whether he is even
many times as large? And why are you investigating the causes of the light of
the moon, and whether it has a borrowed light, or one which proceeds solely from
itself? Why, again, do you seek to understand the nature of the rest of the
stars, of their motion, of their sympathy with one another, and even with
earthly things? (1.54) And why, while walking upon the earth do you soar above
the clouds? And why, while rooted in the solid land, do you affirm that you can
reach the things in the sky? And why do you endeavor to form conjectures about
matters which cannot be ascertained by conjecture? And why do you busy yourself
about sublime subjects which you ought not to meddle with? And why do you extend
your desire to make discoveries in mathematical science as far as the heaven?
And why do you devote yourself to astronomy, and talk about nothing but high
subjects? My good man, do not trouble your head about things beyond the ocean,
but attend only to what is near you; and be content rather to examine yourself
without flattery. (1.55) How, then, will you find out what you want, even if you
are successful? Go with full exercise of your intellect to Charran, that is, to
the trench which is dug, into the holes and caverns of the body, and investigate
the eyes, the ears, the nostrils, and the other organs of the external senses;
and if you wish to be a philosopher, study philosophically that branch which is
the most indispensable and at the same time the most becoming to a man, and
inquire what the faculty of sight is, what hearing is, what taste, what smell,
what touch is, in a word, what is external sense; then seek to understand what
it is to see, and how you see; what it is to hear, and how you hear; what it is
to smell, or to taste, or to touch, and how each of these operations is
ordinarily effected. (1.56) But it is not the very extravagance of insane folly
to seek to comprehend the dwelling of the universe, before your own private
dwelling is accurately known to you? But I do not as yet lay the more important
and extensive injunction upon you to make yourself acquainted with your own soul
and mind, of the knowledge of which you are so proud; for in reality you will
never be able to comprehend it. (1.57) Mount up then to heaven, and talk
arrogantly about the things which exist there, before you are as yet able to
comprehend, according to the words of the poet,

"All
the good and all the evil

Which
thy own abode contains;"

and,
bringing down that messenger of yours from heaven, and dragging him down from
his search into matters existing there, become acquainted with yourself, and
carefully and diligently labor to arrive at such happiness as is permitted to
man. (1.58) Now this disposition the Hebrews called Terah, and the Greeks
Socrates; for they say also that the latter grew old in the most accurate study
by which he could hope to know himself, never once directing his philosophical
speculations to the subjects beyond himself. But he was really a man; but Terah
is the principle itself which is proposed to every one, according to which each
man should know himself, like a tree full of good branches, in order that these
persons who are fond of virtue might without difficulty gather the fruit of pure
morality, and thus become filled with the most delightful and saving food.
(1.59) Such, then, are those men who reconnoitre the quarters of wisdom for us;
but those who are actually her athletes, and whopractice her exercises, are more perfect. For these men think fit to
learn with complete accuracy the whole question connected with the external
senses, and after having done so, then to proceed to another and more important
speculation, leaving all consideration of the holes of the body which they call
Charran. (1.60) Of the number of these men is Abraham, who attained to great
progress and improvement in the comprehension of complete knowledge; for when he
knew most, then he most completely renounced himself in order to attain to the
accurate knowledge of him who was the truly living God. And, indeed, this is a
very natural course of events; for he who completely understands himself does
also very much, because of his thorough appreciation of it, renounce the
universal nothingness of the creature; and he who renounces himself learns to
comprehend the living God.

XI.
(1.61) We have now, then, explained what Charran is, and why he who left the
well of the oath came thither. We must now consider the third point which comes
next in order, namely, what the place is to which this man came; for it is said,
"He met him in the Place."{10}{Genesis 28:11.} (1.62) Now place is
considered in three ways: firstly, as a situation filled by a body; secondly, as
a divine word which God himself has filled wholly and entirely with incorporeal
powers; for says the scripture, "I have seen the place in which the God of
Israel Stood,"{11}{Exodus 24:10.} in which alone he permitted his prophet
to perform sacrifice to him, forbidding him to do so in other places. For he is
ordered to go up into the place which the Lord God shall choose, and there to
sacrifice burnt offerings and sacrifices for salvation, and to bring other
victims also without spot. (1.63) According to the third signification, God
himself is called a place, from the fact of his surrounding the universe, and
being surrounded himself by nothing whatever, and from the fact of his being the
refuge of all persons, and since he himself is his own district, containing
himself and resembling himself alone. (1.64) I, indeed, am not a place, but I am
in a place, and every existing being is so in a similar manner. So that which is
surrounded differs from that which surrounds it; but the Deity, being surrounded
by nothing, is necessarily itself its own place. And there is an evidence in
support of my view of the matter in the following sacred oracle delivered with
respect to Abraham: "He came unto the place of which the Lord God had told
him: and having looked up with his eyes, he saw the place afar
Off."{12}{Genesis 22:4.} (1.65) Tell me, now, did he who had come to the
place see it afar off? Or perhaps it is but an identical expression for two
different things, one of which is the divine world, and the other, God, who
existed before the world. (1.66) But he who was conducted by wisdom comes to the
former place, having found that the main part and end of propitiation is the
divine word, in which he who is fixed does not as yet attain to such a height as
to penetrate to the essence of God, but sees him afar off; or, rather, I should
say, he is not able even to behold him afar off, but he only discerns this fact,
that God is at a distance from every creature, and that any comprehension of him
is removed to a great distance from all human intellect. (1.67) Perhaps,
however, the historian, by this allegorical form of expression, does not here
mean by his expression, "place," the Cause of all things; but the idea
which he intends to convey may be something of this sort; --he came to the
place, and looking up with his eyes he saw the very place to which he had come,
which was a very long way from the God who may not be named nor spoken of, and
who is in every way incomprehensible.

XII.
(1.68) These things, then, being defined as a necessary preliminary, when the
practicer of virtue comes to Charran, the outward sense, he does not
"meet" the place, nor that place either which is filled by a mortal
body; for all those who are born of the dust, and who occupy any place whatever,
and who do of necessity fill some position, partake of that; nor the third and
most excellent kind of place, of which it was scarcely possible for that man to
form an idea who made his abode at the well which was entitled the "well of
the oath," where the self-taught race, Isaac, abides, who never abandons
his faith in God and his invisible comprehension of him, but who keeps to the
intermediate divine word, which affords him the best suggestions, and teaches
him everything which is suitable to the times. (1.69) For God, not condescending
to come down to the external senses, sends his own words or angels for the sake
of giving assistance to those who love virtue. But they attend like physicians
to the disease of the soul, and apply themselves to heal them, offering sacred
recommendations like sacred laws, and inviting men to practice the duties
inculcated by them, and, like the trainers of wrestlers, implanting in their
pupils strength, and power, and irresistible vigor. (1.70) Very properly,
therefore, when he has arrived at the external sense, he is represented no
longer as meeting God, but only the divine word, just as his grandfather
Abraham, the model of wisdom, did; for the scripture tells us, "The Lord
departed when he had finished conversing with Abraham, and Abraham returned to
his Place."{13}{Genesis 18:33.} From which expression it is inferred, that
he also met with the sacred words from which God, the father of the universe,
had previously departed, no longer displaying visions from himself but only
those which proceed from his subordinate powers. (1.71) And it is with exceeding
beauty and propriety that it is said, not that he came to the place, but that he
met the place: for to come is voluntary, but to meet is very often involuntary;
so that the divine Word appearing on a sudden, supplies an unexpected joy,
greater than could have been hoped, inasmuch as it is about to travel in company
with the solitary soul; for Moses also "brings forward the people to a
meeting with God,"{14} {Exodus 19:17.} well knowing that he comes invisibly
towards those souls who have a longing to meet with him.

XIII.
(1.72) And he subsequently alleges a reason why he "met the place;"
for, says he, "the sun was Set."{15}{Genesis 28:11.} Not meaning the
sun which appears to us, but the most brilliant and radiant light of the
invisible and Almighty God. When this light shines upon the mind, the inferior
beams of words (that is of angels) set. And much more are all the places
perceptible by the external senses overshadowed; but when he departs in a
different direction, then they all rise and shine. (1.73) And do not wonder if,
according to the rules of allegorical description, the sun is likened to the
Father and Governor of the universe; for in reality nothing is like unto God;
but those things which by the vain opinion of men are thought to be so, are only
two things, one invisible and the other visible; the soul being the invisible
thing, and the sun the visible one. (1.74) Now he has shown the similitude of
the soul in another passage, where he says, "God made man, in the image of
God created he him." And again, in the law enacted against homicides, he
says, "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed in
requital for that blood, because in the image of God did I make
Him."{16}{Genesis 9:6.} But the likeness of the sun he only indicates by
symbols. (1.75) And it is easy otherwise by means of argument to perceive this,
since God is the first light, "For the Lord is my light and my
Savior,"{17}{Psalms 26:1.} is the language of the Psalms; and not only the
light, but he is also the archetypal pattern of every other light, or rather he
is more ancient and more sublime than even the archetypal model, though he is
spoken of as the model; for the real model was his own most perfect word, the
light, and he himself is like to no created thing. (1.76) Since, as the sun
divides day and night, so also does Moses say that God divided the light from
the darkness; for "God made a division between the light and between the
Darkness."{18}{Genesis 1:4.} And besides all this, as the sun, when he
arises, discovers hidden things, so also does God, who created all things, not
only bring them all to light, but he has even created what before had no
existence, not being their only maker, but also their founder.

XIV.
(1.77) And the sun is also spoken of in many passages of holy writ in a
figurative manner. Once as the human mind, which men build up as a
City{19}{Genesis 1:4.} and furnish, who are compelled to serve the creature in
preference to the uncreated God, of whom it is said that, "They built
strong cities for Pharaoh and Peitho,"{20}{Genesis 11:4.} that is, for
discourse; to which persuasion (to peithein) is attributed, and Rameses, or the
outward sense, by which the soul is devoured as if by moths; for the name
Rameses, being interpreted, means, "the shaking of a moth;" and On,
the mind, which they called Heliopolis, since the mind, like the sun, has the
predominance over the whole mass of our body, and extends its powers like the
beams of the sun, over everything. (1.78) But he who appropriates to himself the
regulation of corporeal things, by name Joseph, takes the priest and minister of
the mind to be his father-in-law; for says the scripture, "he gave him
Aseneth, the daughter of Peutephres, the priest of Heliopolis, for his
Wife."{21}{Genesis 41:45.} (1.79) And, using symbolical language, he calls
the outward sense a second sun, inasmuch as it shows all the objects of which it
is able to form a judgment to the intellect, concerning which he speaks thus,
"The sun rose upon him when he passed by the appearance of
God."{22}{Genesis 32:31.} For in real truth, when we are no longer able to
endure to pass all our time with the most sacred appearances, and as it were
with incorporeal images, but when we turn aside in another direction, and
forsake them, we use another light, that, namely, in accordance with the
external sense, which is real truth, is in no respect different from darkness,
(1.80) which, after it has arisen, arouses as if from sleep the senses of
seeing, and of hearing, and also of taste, and of touch, and of smell, and sends
to sleep the intellectual qualities of prudence, and justice, and knowledge, and
wisdom, which were all awake. (1.81) And it is for this reason that the sacred
scripture says, that no one can be pure before the evening, {23}{Leviticus
4:31.} as the disorderly motions of the outward senses agitate and confuse the
intellect. Moreover, he establishes a law for the priests also which may not be
avoided, combining with it an expression of a grave opinion when it says,
"He shall not eat of the holy things unless he has washed his body in
water, and unless the sun has set, and he has become Pure."{24}{Leviticus
22:6.} (1.82) For by these words it is very clearly shown that there is no one
whatever completely pure, so as to be fit to be initiated into the holy and
sacred mysteries, to whose lot it has fallen to be honored with these glories of
life which are appreciable by the external senses. But if any one rejects these
glories, he is deservedly made conspicuous by the light of wisdom, by means of
which he will be able to wash off the stains of vain opinion and to become pure.
(1.83) Do you not see that even the sun itself produces opposite effects when he
is setting from those which he causes when rising? For when he rises everything
upon the earth shines, and the things in heaven are hidden from our view; but,
on the other hand, when he sets then the stars appear and the things on earth
are overshadowed. (1.84) In the same manner, also, in us, when the light of the
outward senses rises like the sun, the celestial and heavenly sciences are
really and truly hidden from view; but when this light is near setting, then the
star like radiance of the virtues appears, when the mind is pure, and concealed
by no object of the outward senses.

XV.
(1.85) But according to the third signification, when he speaks of the sun, he
means the divine word, the model of that sun which moves about through the
heaven, as has been said before, and with respect to which it is said, "The
sun went forth upon the earth, and Lot entered into Segor, and the Lord rained
upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire." (1.86) For the word of God,
when it reaches to our earthly constitution, assists and protects those who are
akin to virtue, or whose inclinations lead them to virtue; so that it provides
them with a complete refuge and salvation, but upon their enemies it sends
irremediable overthrow and destruction. (1.87) And in the fourth signification,
what is meant by the sun is the God and ruler of the universe himself, as I have
said already, by means of whom such offences as are irremediable, and which
appear to be overshadowed and concealed, are revealed; for as all things are
possible, so, likewise, all things are known to God. (1.88) In reference to
which faculty of his it is that he drags those persons who are living
dissolutely as regards their souls, and who are in a debauched and intemperate
manner, cohabiting with the daughters of the mind the outward senses, as
prostitutes and harlots, to the light of the sun, in order to display their true
characters; (1.89) for the scripture says, "And the people abode in Shittim;"
now the meaning of the name Shittim is, "the thorns of passion;" which
sting and wound the soul. "And the people was polluted, and began to commit
whoredom with the daughters of Moab,"{25}{Numbers 25:1.} and those who are
called daughters are the outward senses, for the name Moab is interpreted,
"of a father;" and the scripture adds, "Take all the chiefs of
the people, and make an example of them unto the Lord in the face of the sun,
and the anger of the Lord shall be turned from Israel."{26}{Numbers 25:4.}
(1.90) For he not only desires that the wicked deeds which are hidden shall be
made manifest, and therefore turns upon them the beams of the sun, but he also
by this symbolical language calls the father of the universe the sun, that being
by whom all things are seen beforehand, and even all those things which are
invisibly concealed in the recesses of the mind; and when they are made
manifest, then he promises that he who is the only merciful being, will become
merciful to the people. (1.91) Why so? Because, even if the mind, fancying that
though it does wrong it can escape the notice of the Deity as not being able to
see everything, should sin secretly and in dark places, and should after that,
either by reason of its own notions or through the suggestions of some one else,
conceive that it is impossible that anything should be otherwise than clear to
God, and should disclose itself and all its actions, and should bring them
forward, as it were, out of the light of the sun, and display them to the
governor of the universe, saying, that it repents of the perverse conduct which
it formerly exhibited when under the influence of foolish opinion (for that
nothing is indistinct before God, but all things are known and clear to him, not
merely such as have been done, but even such are merely hoped or designed, by
reason of the boundless character of his wisdom), it then is purified and
benefited, and it propitiates the chastiser who was ready to punish it, namely,
conscience, who was previously filled with just anger towards it, and who now
admits repentance as the younger brother of perfect innocence and freedom from
sin.

XVI.
(1.92) Moreover, it appears that Moses has in other passages also taken the sun
as a symbol of the great Cause of all things, of which I seen an instance in the
law which is enacted with respect to those who borrow on pledges: let us recite
the law, "If thou takest as a pledge the garment of thy neighbour, thou
shall give it back before the setting of the sun: for it is his covering, it is
his only covering of his nakedness, in which he lies down. If he cries unto me I
will hearken unto him, for I am Merciful."{27}{Exodus 22:26.} (1.93) Is it
not natural that those who fancy that the lawgiver displays such earnestness
about a garment should, if they do not reproach him, at least make a suggestion,
saying, "What are ye saying, my good men? Do ye affirm that the Creator and
ruler of the world calls himself merciful with respect to so trivial a matter,
as that of a garment not being restored to the borrower by the lender?"
(1.94) These are the opinions and notions of men who have never had the least
conception or comprehension of the virtue of the almighty God, and who, contrary
to all human and divine law, impart the triviality of human affairs to the
uncreate and immortal nature, which is full of happiness, and blessedness, and
perfection; (1.95) for in what respect do those lenders act unreasonably, who
retain in their own hands the pledges which are deposited with them as security,
until they receive back their own which they have lent? The debtors are poor,
some one will perhaps say, and it is right to pity them: would it not have been
reasonable and better to enact a law in accordance with which a contribution
should be made to assist their necessities, rather than allow them to appear as
debtors, or else one which should forbid the lending on pledges at all? But the
law which has permitted the lending on pledges, cannot fairly be indignant
against those who will not give up the pledges which they have received before
the proper time, as if they were acting unjustly. (1.96) But if any one having
come, so to say, to the very farthest limits of poverty, and, being clothed in
rags, loads himself with new debts, neglecting the pity which he receives from
the bystanders, which is freely bestowed, upon those who fall into such
misfortunes, in their own houses, and in the temples, and in the market-place,
and everywhere; (1.97) such a one brings and offers to his creditor, the only
covering which he had for his shame, with which he has been wont to cover the
secret parts of his nature, as a pledge for something. For what, I pray? Is it
for some other and better garment? For no one is unprovided with necessary food
as long as the springs of the rivers bubble up, and the torrents flow
abundantly, and the earth gives forth its annual fruits. (1.98) Again, is any
creditor so covetous of riches, or so very cruel, or so perverse, as not to be
willing to contribute a tetradrachm, or even less, to one in distress? Or is any
one so stingy as to be willing to lend it, but to refuse to give it? or as to
take the only garment that the poor man has as a pledge? which indeed under
another name may fairly be called running away with a man's clothes; {28}{the
Greek word is loÁpodyteoÁ. A loÁpodyteÁs was one who frequented the baths
for the purpose of stealing the clothes of the bathers.} for men who do this are
accustomed to put on other peoples' clothes, and steal them, and to leave the
proper owners naked. (1.99) And why has the law provided so carefully that the
debtor may not be without his clothes by night, and that he may not lie down to
sleep without them, but has not paid the same attention to the fact of his being
indecorously naked by day? Are not all things concealed by night and darkness,
so as to cause less shame, or rather none at all at that time, but are they not
disclosed by day and by light, so as then to compel persons to blush more
freely? (1.100) And why does the law not use the expression "to give,"
but "to restore?" For restoration takes place with respect to the
property of other persons, but pledges belong rather to those who have lent on
them than to those who have borrowed on them. Moreover, do you not perceive that
the law has not enjoined the debtor, who has received back his garment that it
may serve as bed-clothes, to bring it back again to his creditor at the return
of daylight? (1.101) And, indeed, if the exact propriety of the language be
considered, even the most stupid person may see that there is something
additional meant beyond what is formally expressed. For the injunction rather
resembles a maxim than a recommendation. For, if a person had been giving a
recommendation, he would have said: "Give back to your debtor, at the
approach of evening, the garment which has been pledged to you, if it be the
only garment that he is possessed of, that he may have something with which to
cover himself at night." But one who was laying down a maxim would speak
thus; as indeed the law does here, "For it is his garment, the only
covering of his nakedness, in which he will lie down to sleep."

XVII.
(1.102) These things then, and other things of the same kind, may be urged in
reply to those assertors of the literal sense of a passage; and who
superciliously reject all other explanations. We will now, in accordance with
the usual laws of allegorical speaking, say what is becoming with respect to
these subjects. We say, therefore, that a garment here is spoken of
symbolically, to signify speech; for clothes keep off the injuries which are
wont to visit the body, from cold and heat, and they also conceal the
unmentionable parts of nature, and moreover, a cloak is a fitting garment for
the body. (1.103) In much the same manner, speech has been given to man by God,
as the most excellent of gifts; for in the first place, it is a defensive weapon
against those who would attack him with innovations. For as nature has fortified
all other animals with their own appropriate and peculiar means of defense, by
which they are able to repel those who attempt to injure them, so also has it
bestowed upon man that greatest defense and most impregnable protection of
speech, with which, as with a panoply, every one who is completely clothed, will
have a domestic and most appropriate bodyguard; and employing it as a champion,
will be able to ward off all the injuries which can be brought against him by
his enemies. (1.104) In the second place, it is a most necessary defense against
shame and reproach; for speech is very well calculated to conceal and obscure
the faults of men. In the third place, it conduces to the whole ornament of
life: for this is the thing which improves every one, and which conducts every
one to what is best; (1.105) for there are many disgraceful and mischievous men,
who take conversation as a pledge, and deprive its proper owners of it, and
utterly cut off what they ought to seek to increase; like men who ravage the
lands of their enemies, and who attempt to destroy their corn and all the rest
of their crops, which, if it were left unhurt, would be a great advantage to
those who would use it. (1.106) For some men carry on an irreconcilable and
never-ending war against rational nature, and utterly extirpate its every shoot
and beginning, and destroy all its first appearances of propagation, and render
it, as one may say, utterly unproductive and barren of all good practices.
(1.107) For sometimes, when it is borne onwards towards sacred instruction with
irresistible impetuosity, and when it is smitten with a love of the speculations
of true philosophy, they--out of jealousy and envy, fearing lest, when it has
derived strength from its noble aspirations and has been elevated to a splendid
height, it may overwhelm all their petty cavils and plausible devices against
the truth, like an irresistible torrent--turn its energy in another direction by
their own evil artifices, guiding it in another channel to vulgar and illiberal
acts: and very often they seek to blunt it or to hedge it in, and in this way
leave the nobility of its nature uncultivated, just as at times wicked guardians
of orphan children have rendered a deep-soiled and fertile land barren. And
these most pitiless of all men have not been restrained by shame from stripping
the man of his only garment, namely, speech; "For," says the
scripture, "it is his only covering."--What is a man's only covering,
except speech? (1.108) For, as neighing is the peculiar attribute of a horse,
and barking of a dog, and lowing of an ox, and roaring of a lion, so also is
speaking, and speech itself, the peculiar property of man: for this is what man
has received above all other animals as his peculiar gift, as a protection, a
bulwark, and panoply, and wall of defence; he being, of all living creatures,
the most beloved of God.

XVIII.
(1.109) On which account the scripture adds, "This is the only covering of
his nakedness;" for what can so becomingly overshadow and conceal the
reproaches and disgraces of life, as speech? For ignorance is a disgrace akin to
irrational nature, but education is the brother of speech, and an ornament
properly belonging to man. (1.110) In what then will a man lie down to rest?
That is to say, in what will a man find tranquility and a respite from his
labors, except in speech? For speech is a relief to our most miserable and
afflicted race. As therefore, when men have been overwhelmed by grief, or by
fear, or by any other evil, tranquility, and constancy, and the kindness of
friends have often restored them; so it happens, not often, but invariably, that
speech, the only real averter of evil, wards off that most heavy burden which
the necessities of that body in the which we are bound up, and the unforeseen
accidents of external circumstances which attack us, impose upon us; (1.111) for
speech is a friend, and an acquaintance, and a kinsman, and a companion bound up
within us; I should rather say, fitted close and united to us by some
indissoluble and invisible cement of nature. On this account it is, that it
forewarns us of what will be expedient for us, and when any unexpected event
befalls us it comes forward of its own accord to assist us; not only bringing
advantage of one kind only, such as that which he who is an adviser without
acting, or an agent who can give no advice, may supply, but of both kinds:
(1.112) for he does not display a half-complete power, but one which is perfect
in every part. Inasmuch, as even if it were to fail in his endeavor, and in any
conceptions which may have been formed, or efforts which may have been made, it
still can have recourse to the third species of assistance, namely, consolation.
For speech is, as it were, a medicine for the wounds of the soul, and a saving
remedy for its passions, which, "even before the setting of the sun,"
the lawgiver says one must restore: that is to say, before the all-brilliant
beams of the almighty and all-glorious God are obscured, which he, out of pity
for our race, sends down from heaven upon the human mind. (1.113) For while that
most Godlike light abides in the soul, we shall be able to give back the speech,
which was deposited as a pledge, as if it were a garment, in order that he who
has received this peculiar possession of man, may by its means conceal the
discreditable circumstances of life, and reap the benefit of the divine gift,
and indulge in a respite combined with tranquility, in consequence of the
presence of so useful an adviser and defender, who will never leave the ranks in
which he has been stationed. (1.114) Moreover, while God pours upon you the
light of his beams, do you hasten in the light of day to restore his pledge to
the Lord; for when the sun has set, then you, like the whole land of Egypt,
{29}{Exodus 10:21.} will have an everlasting darkness which may be felt, and
being stricken with blindness and ignorance, you will be deprived of all those
things of which you thought that you had certain possession, by that
sharp-sighted Israel, whose pledges you hold, having made one who was by nature
exempt from slavery a slave to necessity.

XIX.
(1.115) We have discussed this subject at this length with no other object
except that of teaching that the mind, which is inclined to practice virtue,
having irregular motions towards prolificness and sterility, and as one may say,
being in a manner always ascending and descending, when it becomes prolific and
is elevated to a height is illuminated with the archetypal and incorporeal beams
of the rational spring of the all-perfecting sun; but when it descends and
becomes unproductive, then it is again illuminated by those images of those
beams, the immortal words which it is customary to call angels. (1.116) On which
account we now read in the scripture, "He met the place; for the sun was
Set."{30}{Genesis 28:11.} For when those beams of God desert the soul by
means of which the clearest comprehensions of affairs are engendered in it, then
arises that second and weaker light of words, and the light of things is no
longer seen, just as is the case in this lower world. For the moon, which
occupies the second rank next to the sun, when that body has set, pours forth a
somewhat weaker light than his upon the earth; (1.117) and to meet a place or a
word is a most sufficient gift for those who cannot discern that God is superior
to every place or word; because they have not a soul wholly destitute of light,
but because, since that most unmixed and brilliant light has set, they have been
favored with one which is alloyed. "For the children of Israel had light in
all their Dwellings,"{31}{Exodus 10:23.} says the sacred historian in the
book of Exodus, so that night and darkness were continually banished from them,
though it is in night and darkness that those men live who have lost the eyes of
the soul rather than those of the body, having no experience of the beams of
virtue. (1.118) But some persons--supposing that what is meant here by the
figurative expression of the sun is the external sense and the mind, which are
looked upon as the things which have the power of judging; and that which is
meant by place is the divine word--understand the allegory in this manner: the
practicer of virtue met with the divine word, after the mortal and human light
had set; (1.119) for as long as the mind thinks that it attains to a firm
comprehension of the objects of the intellect, and the outward sense conceives
that it has a similar understanding of its appropriate objects, and that it
dwells amid sublime objects, the divine word stands aloof at a distance; but
when each of these comes to confess its own weakness, and sets in a manner while
availing itself of concealment, then immediately the right reason of a soul
well-practised in virtue comes in a welcome manner to their assistance, when
they have begun to despair of their own strength, and await the aid which is
invisibly coming to them from without.

XX.
(1.120) Therefore, the scripture says in the next verses, "That he took one
of the stones of the place and placed it at his head, and slept in that
Place."{32}{Genesis 28:11.} Any one may wonder not only at the interior and
mystical doctrine contained in these words, but also at the distinct assertion,
which gives us a lesson in labor and endurance: (1.121) for the historian does
not think it becoming, that the man who is devoted to the study of virtue should
adopt a luxurious life, and live softly, imitating the pursuits and rivalries of
those who are called indeed happy, but who are in reality full of all
unhappiness; whose entire life is a sleep and a dream, according to the holy
lawgiver. (1.122) These men, after they have during the whole day been doing all
sorts of injustice to others, in courts of justice, and council halls, and
theatres, and everywhere, then return home, like miserable men as they are, to
overturn their own house. I mean not that house which comes under the class of
buildings, but that which is akin to the soul, I mean the body. Introducing
immoderate and incessant food, and irrigating it with an abundance of pure wine,
until the reason is overwhelmed, and disappears; and the passions which have
their seat beneath the belly, the offspring of satiety, rise up, being carried
away by unrestrained frenzy, and falling upon, and vehemently attacking all that
they meet with, are only at last appeased after they have worked off their
excessive violence of excitement. (1.123) But by night, when it is time to turn
towards rest, having prepared costly couches and the most exquisite of beds,
they lie down in the most exceeding softness, imitating the luxury of women,
whom nature has permitted to indulge in a more relaxed system of life, inasmuch
as their maker, the Creator of the universe, has made their bodies of a more
delicate stamp. (1.124) Now no such person as this is a pupil of the sacred
word, but those only are the disciples of that who are real genuine men, lovers
of temperance, and orderliness, and modesty, men who have laid down continence,
and frugality, and fortitude, as a kind of base and foundation for the whole of
life; and safe stations for the soul, in which it may anchor without danger and
without changeableness: for being superior to money, and pleasure, and glory,
they look down upon meats and drinks, and everything of that sort, beyond what
is necessary to ward off hunger: being thoroughly ready to undergo hunger, and
thirst, and heat, and cold, and all other things, however hard they may be to be
borne, for the sake of the acquisition of virtue. And being admirers of whatever
is most easily provided, so as to not be ashamed of ever such cheap or shabby
clothes, think rather, on the other hand, that sumptuous apparel is a reproach
and great scandal to life. (1.125) To these men, the soft earth is their most
costly couch; their bed is bushes, and grass, and herbage, and a thick layer of
leaves; and the pillows for their head are a few stones, or any little mounds
which happen to rise a little above the surface of the plain. Such a life as
this, is, by luxurious men, denominated a life of hardship, but by those who
live for virtue, it is called most delightful; for it is well adapted, not for
those who are called men, for those who really are such. (1.126) Do you not see,
that even now, also, the sacred historian represents the practicer of honorable
pursuits, who abounds in all royal materials and appointments, as sleeping on
the ground, and using a stone for his pillow; and a little further on, he speaks
of himself as asking in his prayers for bread and a cloak, the necessary wealth
of nature? like one who has at all times held in contempt, the man who dwells
among vain opinions, and who is inclined to revile all those who are disposed to
admire him; this man is the archetypal pattern of the soul which is devoted to
the practice of virtue, and an enemy of every effeminate person.

XXI.
(1.127) Hitherto I have been uttering the praises of the man devoted to labor
and to virtue, as it occurred to me naturally; but now we must examine what is
symbolically signified under the expressions made use of. Now it is well that we
should know, that the divine place and the sacred region are full of incorporeal
intelligences; and these intelligences are immortal souls. (1.128) Taking then
one of these intelligences, and selecting one of them according as it appears to
be the most excellent, this lover of virtue, of whom we are speaking, applies it
to our own mind, to it as to the head of a united body; for, indeed, the mind is
in a manner the head of the soul; and he does this, using the pretext indeed as
if he were going to sleep, but, in reality, as being about to rest upon the word
of God, and to place the whole of his life as the lightest possible burden upon
it; (1.129) and it listens to him gladly, and receives the laborer in the paths
of virtue at first, as if he were going to become a disciple; then when he has
shown his approbation of the dexterity of his nature, he gives him his hand,
like a gymnastic trainer, and invites him to the gymnasia, and standing firmly,
compels him to wrestle with him, until he has rendered his strength so great as
to be irresistible, changing his ears by the divine influences into eyes, and
calling this newly-modelled disposition Israel, that is, the man who
Sees.{33}{the marginal note in our Bible translates Israel, "a prince of
God."} (1.130) Then also he crowns him with the garland of victory. But
this garland has a singular and foreign, and, perhaps, not altogether a
wellomened name, for it is called by the president of the games torpor, for it
is said, that the breadth became Torpid{34}{Genesis 32:25; where, however, the
expression of the Bible is "the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of
joint."} of all the rewards and of the proclamations of the heralds, and of
all those most wonderful prizes for pre-eminent excellence which are had in
honor; (1.131) for the soul which has received a share of irresistible power,
and which has been made perfect in the contests of virtue, and which has arrived
at the very furthest limit of what is honorable, will never be unduly elated or
puffed up by arrogance, nor stand upon tiptoes, and boast as if it were well to
make vast strides with bare feet; but the breadth which was extended wide by
opinion, will become torpid and contracted, and then will voluntarily succumb
and yield to tameness, so as being classed in an inferior order to that of the
incorporeal natures, it may carry off the victory while appearing to be
defeated; (1.132) for it is accounted a most honorable thing to yield the palm
to those who are superior to one's self, voluntarily rather than through
compulsion; for it is incredible how greatly the second prize in this contest is
superior in real dignity and importance to the first prize in the others.

XXII.
(1.133) Such then may be said, by way of preface, to the discussion of that
description of visions which are sent from God. But it is time now to turn to
the subject itself, and to investigate, with accuracy, every portion of it. The
scripture therefore says, "And he dreamed a dream. And behold a ladder was
planted firmly on the ground, the head of which reached to heaven, and the
angels of God were ascending and descending along It."{35}{Genesis 28:12.}
(1.134) By the ladder in this thing, which is called the world, is figuratively
understood the air, the foundation of which is the earth, and the head is the
heaven; for the large interior space, which being extended in every direction,
reaches from the orb of the moon, which is described as the most remote of the
order in heaven, but the nearest to us by those who contemplate sublime objects,
down to the earth, which is the lowest of such bodies, is the air. (1.135) This
air is the abode of incorporeal souls, since it seemed good to the Creator of
the universe to fill all the parts of the world with living creatures. On this
account he prepared the terrestrial animals for the earth, the aquatic animals
for the sea and for the rivers, and the stars for the heaven; for every one of
these bodies is not merely a living animal, but is also properly described as
the very purest and most universal mind extending through the universe; so that
there are living creatures in that other section of the universe, the air. And
if these things are not comprehensible by the outward senses, what of that? For
the soul is also invisible. (1.136) And yet it is probable that the air should
nourish living animals even more than the land or the water. Why so? Because it
is the air which has given vitality to those animals which live on the earth and
in the water. For the Creator of the universe formed the air so that it should
be the habit of those bodies which are immovable, and the nature of those which
are moved in an invisible manner, and the soul of such as are able to exert an
impetus and visible sense of their own. (1.137) Is it not then absurd that that
element, by means of which the other elements have been filled with vitality,
should itself be destitute of living things? Therefore let no one deprive the
most excellent nature of living creatures of the most excellent of those
elements which surrounds the earth; that is to say, of the air. For not only is
it not alone deserted by all things besides, but rather, like a populous city,
it is full of imperishable and immortal citizens, souls equal in number to the
stars. (1.138) Now of these souls some descend upon the earth with a view to be
bound up in mortal bodies, those namely which are most nearly connected with the
earth, and which are lovers of the body. But some soar upwards, being again
distinguished according to the definitions and times which have been appointed
by nature. (1.139) Of these, those which are influenced by a desire for mortal
life, and which have been familiarised to it, again return to it. But others,
condemning the body of great folly and trifling, have pronounced it a prison and
a grave, and, flying from it as from a house of correction or a tomb, have
raised themselves aloft on light wings towards the aether, and have devoted
their whole lives to sublime speculations. (1.140) There are others, again, the
purest and most excellent of all, which have received greater and more divine
intellects, never by any chance desiring any earthly thing whatever, but being
as it were lieutenants of the Ruler of the universe, as though they were the
eyes and ears of the great king, beholding and listening to everything. (1.141)
Now philosophers in general are wont to call these demons, but the sacred
scripture calls them angels, using a name more in accordance with nature. For
indeed they do report (diangellousi) the injunctions of the father to his
children, and the necessities of the children to the father. (1.142) And it is
in reference to this employment of theirs that the holy scripture has
represented them as ascending and descending, not because God, who knows
everything before any other being, has any need of interpreters; but because it
is the lot of us miserable mortals to use speech as a mediator and intercessor;
because of our standing in awe of and fearing the Ruler of the universe, and the
all-powerful might of his authority; (1.143) having received a notion of which
he once entreated one of those mediators, saying: "Do thou speak for us,
and let not God speak to us, lest we Die."{36}{Exodus 20:19.} For not only
are we unable to endure his chastisements, but we cannot bear even his excessive
and unmodified benefits, which he himself proffers us of his own accord, without
employing the ministrations of any other beings. (1.144) Very admirably
therefore does Moses represent the air under the figurative symbol of a ladder,
as planted solidly in the earth and reaching up to heaven. For it comes to pass
that the evaporations which are given forth by the earth becoming rarefied, are
dissolved into air, so that the earth is the foundation and root of the air, and
that the heaven is its head. (1.145) Accordingly it is said that the moon is not
an unadulterated consolidation of pure aether, as each of the other stars is,
but is rather a combination of the aether-like and air-like essence. For the
black spot which appears in it, which some call a face, is nothing else but the
air mingled with it, which is by nature black, and which extends as far as
heaven.

XXIII.
(1.146) The ladder therefore in the world which is here spoken of in this
symbolical manner, was something of this sort. But if we carefully investigate
the soul which exists in men, the foundation of which is something corporeal,
and as it were earth-like, we shall find that the foundation to be the outward
sense; and the head to be something heavenly, as it were the most pure mind.
(1.147) But all the words of God move incessantly upwards and downwards through
the whole of it, dragging it upwards along with them whenever they soar aloft,
and separating it from whatever is mortal, and exhibiting to it a sight of those
things which alone are worthy of being beheld; but yet not casting it down when
they descend. For neither is God himself, nor the word of God, worthy of blame.
But they join with them in their descent, by reason of their love for mankind
and compassion for our race, for the sake of being their allies and rendering
them assistance, in order that by breathing in a saving inspiration they may
recall to life the soul which was still being tossed about in the body as in the
river. (1.148) Now the God and governor of the universe does by himself and
alone walk about invisibly and noiselessly in the minds of those who are
purified in the highest degree. For there is extant a prophecy which was
delivered to the wise man, in which it is said: "I will walk among you, and
I will be your God."{37}{Leviticus 26:12.} But the angels--the words of
God--move about in the minds of those persons who are still in a process of
being washed, but who have not yet completely washed off the life which defiles
them, and which is polluted by the contact of their heavy bodies, making them
look pure and brilliant to the eyes of virtue. (1.149) But it is plain enough
what vast numbers of evils are driven out, and what a multitude of wicked
inhabitants is expelled in order that one good man may be introduced to dwell
there. Do thou, therefore, O my soul, hasten to become the abode of God, his
holy temple, to become strong from having been most weak, powerful from having
been powerless, wise from having been foolish, and very reasonable from having
been doting and childless. (1.150) And perhaps too the practicer of virtue
represents his own life as like to a ladder; for the practice of anything is
naturally an anomalous thing, since at one time it soars up to a height, and at
another it turns downwards in a contrary direction; and at one time has a fair
voyage like a ship, and at another has but an unfavorable passage; for, as some
one says, the life of those whopractice
virtue is full of vicissitudes: being at one time alive and waking, and at
another dead or sleeping. (1.151) And perhaps this is no incorrect statement;
for the wise have obtained the heavenly and celestial country as their
habitation; having learnt to be continually mounting upwards, but the wicked
have received as their share the dark recesses of hell, having from the
beginning to the end of their existencepracticed
dying, and having been from their infancy to their old age familiarised with
destruction. (1.152) But the practicers of virtue, for they are on the boundary
between two extremities, are frequently going upwards and downwards as if on a
ladder, being either drawn upwards by a more powerful fate, or else being
dragged down by that which is worse; until the umpire of this contention and
conflict, namely God, adjudges the victory to the more excellent class and
utterly destroys the other.

XXIV.
(1.153) There is also in this dream another sort of similitude or comparison
apparent, which must not be passed over in silence; the affairs of mankind are
naturally compared to a ladder, on account of their irregular motion and
progress: (1.154) for as some one or other has said; "One day has cast one
man down from on high and destroyed him, and another it has raised up, nothing
that belongs to our human race being formed by nature so as to remain long in
the same condition, but all such things changing with all kinds of alteration.
(1.155) Do not men become rulers from having been private individuals, and
private individuals from having been rulers, poor from having been rich, and
very rich from having been very poor; glorious from being despised, and most
illustrious from having been infamous?" [...] A very beautiful way of life:
for it is very possible that the being whose habitation is the whole world, may
dwell with you also, and take care of your house, so that it may be completely
protected and free from injury for ever; (1.156) and there is such a way as this
in which human affairs move upwards and downwards, meeting with an unstable and
variable fortune, the anomalous character of which, unerring time proves by
evidence which is not indistinct but manifest and legible.

XXV.
(1.157) But the dream also represented the archangel, namely the Lord himself,
firmly planted on the ladder; for we must imagine that the living God stands
above all things, like the charioteer of a chariot, or the pilot of a ship; that
is, above bodies, and above souls, and above all creatures, and above the earth,
and above the air, and above the heaven, and above all the powers of the outward
senses, and above the invisible natures, in short, above all things whether
visible or invisible; for having made the whole to depend upon himself, he
governs it and all the vastness of nature. (1.158) But let no one who hears that
he was firmly planted thus suppose that any thing at all assists God, so as to
enable him to stand firmly, but let him rather consider this fact that what is
here indicated is equivalent to the assertion that the firmest position, and the
bulwark, and the strength, and the steadiness of everything is the immoveable
God, who stamps the character of immobility on whatever he pleases; for, in
consequence of his supporting and consolidating things, those which he does
combine remain firm and indestructible. (1.159) Therefore he who stands upon the
ladder of heaven says to him who is beholding the dream, "I am the Lord God
of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac; be not Afraid."{38}{Genesis
28:13.} This oracle and this vision were also the firmest support of the soul
devoted to the practice of virtue, inasmuch as it taught it that the Lord and
God of the universe is both these things also to his own race, being entitled
both the Lord and God of all men, and of his grandfathers and ancestors, and
being called by both names in order that the whole world and the man devoted to
virtue might have the same inheritance; since it is also said, "The Lord
himself is his Inheritance."{39}{Deuteronomy 10:9.}

XXVI.
(1.160) But do not fancy that it is an accidental thing here for him to be
called in this place the God and Lord of Abraham, but only the God of Isaac; for
this latter is the symbol of the knowledge which exists by nature, which hears
itself, and teaches itself, and learns of itself; but Abraham is the symbol of
that which is derived from the teaching of others; and the one again is an
indigenous and native inhabitant of his country, but the other is only a settler
and a foreigner; (1.161) for having forsaken the language of those who indulge
in sublime conversations about astronomy, a language imitating that of the
Chaldaeans, foreign and barbarous, he was brought over to that which was suited
to a rational being, namely, to the service of the great Cause of all things.
(1.162) Now this disposition stands in need of two powers to take care of it,
the power that is of authority, and that of conferring benefits, in order that
in accordance with the authority of the governor, it may obey the admonitions
which it receives, and also that it may be greatly benefited by his beneficence.
But the other disposition stands in need of the power of beneficence only; for
it has not derived any improvement from the authority which admonishes it,
inasmuch as it naturally claims virtue as its own, but by reason of the bounty
which is showered upon it from above, it was good and perfect from the
beginning; (1.163) therefore God is the name of the beneficent power, and Lord
is the title of the royal power. What then can any one call a more ancient and
important good, than to be thought worthy to meet with unmixed and unalloyed
beneficence? And what can be less valuable than to receive a mixture of
authority and liberality? And it appears to me that it was because the practicer
of virtue saw that he uttered that most admirable prayer that, "the Lord
might be to him as God;"{40}{Genesis 28:21.} for he desired no longer to
stand in awe of him as a governor, but to honor and love him as a benefactor.
(1.164) Now is it not fitting that even blind men should become sharpsighted in
their minds to these and similar things, being endowed with the power of sight
by the most sacred oracles, so as to be able to contemplate the glories of
nature, and not to be limited to the mere understanding of the words? But even
if we voluntarily close the eye of our soul and take no care to understand such
mysteries, or if we are unable to look up to them, the hierophant himself stands
by and prompts us. And do not thou ever cease through weariness to anoint thy
eyes until you have introduced those who are duly initiated to the secret light
of the sacred scriptures, and have displayed to them the hidden things therein
contained, and their reality, which is invisible to those who are uninitiated.
(1.165) It is becoming then for you to act thus; but as for ye, O souls, who
have once tasted of divine love, as if you had even awakened from deep sleep,
dissipate the mist that is before you; and hasten forward to that beautiful
spectacle, putting aside slow and hesitating fear, in order to comprehend all
the beautiful sounds and sights which the president of the games has prepared
for your advantage.

XXVII.
(1.166) There are then a countless number of things well worthy of being
displayed and demonstrated; and among them one which was mentioned a little
while ago; for the oracles calls the person who was really his grandfather, the
father of the practicer of virtue, and to him who as really his father, it has
not given any such title; for the scriptures says, "I am the Lord God of
Abraham thy father," but in reality Abraham was his grandfather; and then
proceeds, "And the God of Isaac," and in this case he does not add,
"thy father:" (1.167) is it not then worth while to examine into the
cause of this difference? Undoubtedly it is; let us then in a careful manner
apply ourselves to the consideration of the cause. Philosophers say that virtue
exists among men, either by nature, or by practice, or by learning. On which
account the sacred scriptures represent the three founders of the nation of the
Israelites as wise men; not indeed originally endowed with the same kind of
wisdom, but arriving rapidly at the same end. (1.168) For the eldest of them,
Abraham, had instruction for his guide in the road which conducted him to
virtue; as we shall show in another treatise to the best of our power. And
Isaac, who is the middle one of the three, had a self-taught and self-instructed
nature. And Jacob, the third, arrived at this point by industry and practice, in
accordance with which were his labors of wrestling and contention. (1.169) Since
then there are thus three different manners by which wisdom exists among men, it
happens that the two extremes are the most nearly and frequently united. For the
virtue which is acquired by practice, is the offspring of that which is derived
from learning. But that which is implanted by nature is indeed akin to the
others, for it is set below them, as the root for them all. But it has obtained
its prize without any rivalry or difficulty. (1.170) So that it is thus very
natural for Abraham, as one who had been improved by instruction, to be called
the father of Jacob, who arrived at his height of virtue by practice. By which
expression is indicated that not so much the relationship of one man to the
other, but that the power which is fond of hearing is very ready for learning;
the power which is devoted to practice being also well suited for wrestling.
(1.171) If, however, this practicer of virtue runs on vigorously towards the end
and learns to see clearly what he previously only dreamed of in an indistinct
way, being altered and re-stamped with a better character, and being called
Israel, that is, "the man who sees God," instead of Jacob, that is,
"the supplanter," he then is no longer set down as the son of Abraham,
as his father, of him who derived wisdom from instruction, but as the son of
Israel, who was born excellent by nature. (1.172) These statements are not
fables of my own invention, but are the oracle written on the sacred pillars.
For, says the scripture: "
Israel
having departed, he and all that he had came to the well of the oath, and there
he sacrificed a sacrifice to the God of his father Isaac."{41}{Genesis
46:1.} Do you not now perceive that this present assertion has reference not to
the relationship between mortal men, but, as was said before, to the nature of
things? For look at what is before us. At one time, Jacob is spoken of as the
son of his father Abraham, and at another time he is called
Israel
, the son of Isaac, on account of the reason which we have thus accurately
investigated.

XVIII.
(1.173) Having then said: "I am the Lord God of Abraham, the father and the
God of Isaac," he adds: "Be not afraid," very consistently. For
how can we any longer be afraid when we have thee, O God, as our armour and
defender? Thee, the deliverer from fear and from every painful feeling? Thee,
who hast also fashioned the archetypal forms of our instruction while they were
still indistinct, so as to make them visible, teaching Abraham wisdom, and
begetting Isaac, who was wise from his birth. For you condescended to be called
the guide of the one and the father of the other, assigning to the one the rank
of pupil, and to the other that of a son. (1.174) For this reason, too, God
promised that he would not give him the land. I mean by the land here,
all-prolific virtue, on which the practicer rests from his contests and sleeps,
from the fact of the life according to the outward sense being lulled asleep,
and that of the soul being awakened. Receiving gladly peaceful repose there,
which he did not obtain without war, and the afflictions which arise from war,
not by means of bearing arms and slaying men; away with any such notion! but by
overthrowing the array of vices and passions which are the adversaries of
virtue. (1.175) But the race of wisdom is likened to the sand of the sea, by
reason of its boundless numbers, and because also the sand, like a fringe,
checks the incursions of the sea; as the reasonings of instruction beat back the
violence of wickedness and iniquity. And these reasonings, in accordance with
the divine promises, are extended to the very extremities of the universe. And
they show that he who is possessed of them is the inheritor of all the parts of
the world, penetrating everywhere, to the east, and to the west, to the south,
and to the north. For it is said in the scripture: "He shall be extended
towards the sea, and towards the south, and towards the north, and towards the
East."{42}{Genesis 28:14.} (1.176) But the wise and virtuous man is not
only a blessing to himself, but he is also a common good to all men, diffusing
advantages over all from his own ready store. For as the sun is the light of all
those beings who have eyes, so also is the wise man light to all those who
partake of a rational nature.

XXIX.
(1.177) "For in thee shall all the nations of the earth be blessed."
And this oracle applies to the wise man in respect of himself, and also in
respect of Others.{43}{the text is very corrupt here. I have followed Mangey's
reading and translation.} For if the mind which is in me is purified by perfect
virtue, and if the tribes of that earthly part which is about me are purified at
the same time, which tribes have fallen to the lot of the external senses, and
of the greatest channel of all, namely the body; and if any one, either in his
house, or in his city, or in his country, or in his nation, becomes a lover of
wisdom, it is inevitable that that house, and that city, and that country, and
that nation, must attain to a better life. (1.178) For, as those spices which
are set on fire fill all persons near them with their fragrance, so in the same
manner do all those persons who are neighbours of and contiguous to the wise men
catch some of the exhalations which reach to a distance from him, and so become
improved in their characters.

XXX.
(1.179) And it is the greatest of all advantages to a soul engaged in labors and
contests, to have for its fellow traveller, God, who penetrates everywhere.
"For behold," says God, "I am with Thee."{44}{Genesis
28:15.} Of what then can we be in need while we have for our wealth Thee, who
art the only true and real riches, who keepest us in the road which leads to
virtue in all its different divisions? For it is not one portion only of the
rational life which conducts to justice and to all other virtue, but the parts
are infinite in number, from which those who desire to arrive at virtue can set
out.

XXXI.
(1.180) Very admirably therefore is it said in the scripture: "I will lead
thee back to this land." For it was fitting that the reason should remain
with itself, and should not depart to the outward sense. And if it has departed,
then the next best thing is for it to return back again. (1.181) And perhaps
also a doctrine bearing on the immortality of the soul is figuratively intimated
by this expression. For the soul, having left the region of heaven, as was
mentioned a little while before, came to the body as a foreign country.
Therefore the father who begot it promises that he will not permit it to be for
ever held in bondage, but that he will have compassion on it, and will unloose
its chains, and will conduct it in safety and freedom as far as the metropolis,
and will not cease to assist it till the promises which he has made in words are
confirmed by the truth of actions. For it is by all means the peculiar attribute
of God to foretell what is to happen. (1.182) And why do we say this? for his
words do not differ from his actions; therefore the soul which is devoted to the
practice of virtue, being set in motion, and roused up to the investigations
relating to the living God, at first suspected that the living God existed in
place; but after a short space it became perplexed by the difficulty of the
question, and began to change its opinion. (1.183) "For," says the
scripture, "Jacob awoke and said, Surely the Lord is in this place, and I
knew it not;" and it would have been better, I should have said; not to
know it, than to fancy that God existed in any place, he whom himself contains
all things in a circle.

XXXII.
(1.184) Very naturally, therefore, was Jacob afraid, and said in a spirit of
admiration, "how dreadful is this Place."{45}{Genesis 28:16.} For, in
truth, of all the topics or places in natural philosophy, the most formidable is
that in which it is inquired where the living God is, and whether in short he is
in any place at all. Since some persons affirm that everything which exists
occupies some place or other, and others assign each thing a different place,
either in the world or out of the world, in some space between the different
bodies of the universe. Others again affirm that the uncreated God resembles no
created being whatever, but that he is superior to everything, so that the very
swiftest conception is outstripped by him, and confesses that it is very far
inferior to the comprehension of him; (1.185) wherefore it speedily cries out,
This is not what I expected, because the Lord is in the place; for he surrounds
everything, but in truth and reason he is not surrounded by anything. And this
thing which is demonstrated and visible, this world perceptible by the outward
senses, is nothing else but the house of God, the abode of one of the powers of
the true God, in accordance with which he is good; (1.186) and he calls this
world an abode, and he has also pronounced it with great truth to be the gate of
heaven. Now, what does this mean? We cannot comprehend the world which consists
of various species, in that which is fashioned in accordance with the divine
regulations, appreciable only by the intellect, in any other manner than by
making a migration upwards from this other world perceptible by the outward
senses and visible; (1.187) for it is not possible either to perceive any other
existing being which is incorporeal, without deriving our principles of judgment
from bodies. For while they are quiet, their place is perceived, and when they
are in motion we judge of their time; but the points, and the lines, and the
superficies, and in short the boundaries. [...]{46}{there is an hiatus here,
which cannot be filled up satisfactorily. The whole of the rest of the chapter
is pronounced by Mangey to be obscure and corrupt, and almost unintelligible.}
as of a garment wrapped externally around it. (1.188) According to analogy,
therefore, the knowledge of the world appreciable by the intellect is attained
to by means of our knowledge of that which is perceptible by the outward senses,
which is as it were a gate to the other. For as men who wish to see cities enter
in through the gates, so also they who wish to comprehend the invisible world
are conducted in their search by the appearance of the visible one. And the
world of that essence which is only open to the intellect without any visible
appearance or figure whatever, and which exists only in the archetypal idea
which exists in the mind, which is fashioned according to its appearance, will
be brought on without any shade; all the walls, and all the gates which could
impede its progress being removed, so that it is not looked at through any other
medium, but by itself, putting forth a beauty which is susceptible of no change,
presenting an indescribable and exquisite spectacle.

XXXIII.
(1.189) But enough of this. There is another dream also which belongs to the
same class, that one I mean about the spotted flock, which the person who beheld
it relates after he had awoke, saying, "The angel of God spake unto me in a
dream, and said, Jacob; and I said, What is it? And he said unto me, Look up
with thine eyes, and see the goats and the rams mounting on the flocks, and the
she-goats, some white, and spotted, and ring-straked, and speckled: for I have
beheld all that Laban does unto thee. I am that God who was seen by thee in the
place of God, where thou anointedst the pillar, and vowedst a vow unto me. Now
therefore, rise up and depart out of the land, and go into the land of thy
birth, and I will be with Thee."{47}{Genesis 31:11.} (1.190) You see here,
that the divine word speaks of dreams as sent from God; including in this
statement not those only which appear through the agency of the chief cause
itself, but those also which are seen through the operation of his interpreters
and attendant angels, who are thought by the father who created them to be
worthy of a divine and blessed lot: (1.191) consider, however, what comes
afterwards. The sacred word enjoins some persons what they ought to do by
positive command, like a king; to others it suggests what will be for their
advantage, as a preceptor does to his pupils; to others again, it is like a
counsellor suggesting the wisest plans; and in this way too, it is of great
advantage to those who do not of themselves know what is expedient; to others it
is like a friend, in a mild and persuasive manner, bringing forward many secret
things which no uninitiated person may lawfully hear. (1.192) For at times it
asks some persons, as for instance, Adam, "Where art thou?" And any
one may properly answer to such a question, "No where?" Because all
human affairs never remain long in the same condition, but are moved about and
changed, whether we speak of their soul or their body, or of their external
circumstances; for their minds are unstable, not always having the same
impressions from the same things, but such as are diametrically contrary to
their former ones. The body also is unstable, as all the changes of the
different ages from infancy to old age show; their external circumstances also
are variable, being tossed up and down by the impetus of everagitated fortune.

XXXIV.
(1.193) When, however, he comes into an assembly of friends, he does not begin
to speak before he has first accosted each individual among them, and addressed
him by name, so that they prick up their ears, and are quiet and attentive,
listening to the oracles thus delivered, so as never to forget them or let them
escape their memory: since in another passage of scripture we read, "Be
silent and Listen."{48}{Deuteronomy 27:9.} (1.194) In this manner, too,
Moses is called up to the bush. For, the scripture says, "When he saw that
he was turning aside to see, God called him out of the bush, and said, Moses,
Moses: and he said, What is it, Lord?"{49}{Exodus 3:4.} And Abraham also,
on the occasion of offering up his beloved and only son as a burnt-offering,
when he was beginning to sacrifice him, and when he had given proof of his
piety, was forbidden to destroy the self-taught race, Isaac by name, from among
men; (1.195) for at the beginning of his account of this transaction, Moses says
that "God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham, Abraham; and he
said, Behold, here am I. And he said unto him, Take now thy beloved son Isaac,
whom thou lovest, and offer him up." And when he had brought the victim to
the altar, then the angel of the Lord called him out of heaven, saying,
"Abraham, Abraham," and he answered, "Behold, here am I. And he
said, Lay not thy hand upon the child, and do nothing to Him."{50}{Genesis
22:1.} (1.196) Also the practicer of virtue is also called one of this company
dear to God, being deservedly accounted worthy of the same honor; for, says the
scripture, "The angel of God said to me in my sleep, Jacob: and I answered,
and said, What is It?"{51}{Genesis 31:10.} (1.197) But after he has been
called he exerts his attention, endeavoring to arrive at an accurate knowledge
of the symbols which are displayed to him; and these symbols are the connection
and generation of reasonings, as flocks and herds. For, says the scripture,
"Jacob, looking up with his eyes, saw the goats and rams leaping upon the
shegoats and upon the sheep." (1.198) Now the hegoat is the leader of the
flock of goats, and the ram is the leader of the flock of sheep, and these two
animals are symbols of perfect reasonings, one of which purifies and cleanses
the soul of sins, and the other nourishes it and renders it full of good
actions. Such then are the leaders of the flocks in us, namely, reasons; and the
flocks themselves, resembling the sheep and goats whose names they bear, rush
forwards and hasten with zeal and earnestness towards justice. (1.199)
Therefore, looking up with the eye of his mind, which up to that time had been
closed, he saw the perfect and thoroughly sharpened reasons analogically
resembling the goats and rams, prepared for the diminution of offences and the
increase of good actions. And he beheld how they leap upon the sheep and the
goats, that is on those souls which are still young and tender, and in the vigor
of youth, and beautiful in the flower of their age; not pursuing irrational
pleasure, but indulging in the invisible sowing of the doctrines of prudence.
(1.200) For this is a marriage which is blessed in its children; not uniting
bodies, but adapting perfect virtues to well-disposed souls. Therefore do all ye
right reasons of wisdom leap up, form connections, sow seed, and pass by no soul
which you see rich and fertile, and welldisposed, and virgin; but inviting it to
association and connection with you, render it perfect and pregnant; for so you
will become the parents of all kinds of good things, of a male offspring, white,
variegated, ring-straked, and speckled.

XXXV.
(1.201) But we must now examine what power each of these offspring has. Now
those which are purely white (dialeukoi) are the most beautiful and the most
conspicuous: the word dia being often prefixed in composition by way of adding
force to the word, so that the words diadeÁlon and diaseÁmion are commonly
used to signify what is very conspicuous (deÁlon) and very remarkable (episeÁmon);
(1.202) therefore the meaning here is that the first-born offspring of the soul
which has received the sacred seed, is purely white; being like light in which
there is no obscurity, and like the most brilliant radiance: like the unclouded
beam which might proceed from the rays of the sun in fine weather at mid-day.
Again, by the statement that some are variegated, what is meant is, not that the
flocks are marked by such a multiform and various spottedness as to resemble the
unclean leprosy, and which is an emblem of a life unsteady and tossed about in
any direction by reason of the fickleness of the mind, but only that they have
marks drawn in regular lines and different characters, shaped and impressed with
all kinds of well approved forms, the peculiarities of which, being multiplied
together and combined properly, will produce a musical harmony. (1.203) For some
persons have looked upon the art of variegating as so random and obscure a
matter, that they have referred it to weavers. But I admire not only the art
itself, but the name likewise, and most especially so when I look upon the
divisions of the earth and the spheres in heaven, and the differences between
various plants and various animals, and that most variegated texture, I mean the
world; (1.204) for I am compelled to suppose, that the maker of this universal
textile fabric was also the inventor of all varied and variegating science; and
I look with reverence upon the inventor, and I honor the art which he invented,
and I am amazed at the work which is the result, and this too, though it is but
a very small portion of it which I have been able to see, but still, from the
portion of which has been unfolded to me, if indeed I may say that it has been
unfolded, I hope to form a tolerably accurate judgment of the whole, guiding my
conjectures by the light of analogy. (1.205) Nevertheless I admire the lover of
wisdom for having studied the same art, collecting and thinking fit to weave
together many things, though different, and proceeding from different sources,
into the same web; for taking the first two elements from the grammatical
knowledge imparted to children, that is to say, reading and writing, and taking
from the more perfect growth of knowledge the skill which is found among poets,
and the comprehension of ancient history, and deriving certainty and freedom
from deception from arithmetic and geometry, in which sciences there is need of
proportions and calculations; and borrowing from music rhyme, and metre, and
harmonies, and chromatics, and diatonics, and combined and disjoined melodies;
and having derived from rhetoric invention, and language, and arrangement, and
memory, and action; and from philosophy, whatever has been omitted in any of
these separate branches, and all the other things of which human life consists,
he has put together in one most admirably arranged work, combining great
learning of one kind with great learning of another kind. (1.206) Now the sacred
scripture calls the maker of this compound work Besaleel, which name, being
interpreted, signifies "in the shadow of God;" for he makes all the
copies, and the man by name Moses makes all the models, as the principal
architect; and for this reason it is, that the one only draws outlines as it
were, but the other is not content with such sketches, (1.207) but makes the
archetypal natures themselves, and has already adorned the holy places with his
variegating art; but the wise man is called the only adorner of the place of
wisdom in the oracles delivered in the sacred scriptures.

XXXVI.
And the most beautiful and varied work of God, this world, has been created in
this its present state of perfection by all-wise knowledge; and how can it be
anything but right to receive the art of variegating as a noble effort of
knowledge? (1.208) the most sacred copy of which is the whole word of wisdom,
which will bear about in its bosom the things of heaven and of earth, from which
the practicer of virtue elaborates his notions of various things. For after the
white sheep he immediately beheld the variegated animals, stamped with the
impression of instruction. (1.209) The third kind are the ring-straked and
speckled; and what man in his senses would deny that these also are, as to their
genus, variegated? but still he is not so very eager about the varieties of the
members of the flocks, as about the road which leads to virtue and excellence;
(1.210) for the prophet intends that he who proceeds along this road shall be
besprinkled with dust and water; because it is related that the earth and water
being kneaded together and fashioned into shape by the Creator of man, was
formed into one body, not being made by hand, but being the work of invisible
nature. (1.211) Therefore it is the first principle of wisdom not to forget
one's self, and always to keep before one's eyes the materials of which one has
been compounded; for in this way a man will get rid of boasting and arrogance,
which of all evils is the one most hated by God; for who that ever admits into
his mind the recollection that the first principles of his formation are dust
and water, would ever be so puffed by vanity as to be unduly elated? (1.212) On
this account the prophet has thought it fit that those who are about to offer
sacrifice shall be sprinkled with the aforesaid things; thinking no one worthy
to appear at a sacrifice who has not first of all learnt to know himself, and to
comprehend the nothingness of mankind, and the elements of which he is composed,
conjecturing from them that he himself is utterly insignificant.

XXXVII.
(1.213) These three signs, the white, the variegated, and the ring-straked and
speckled, are as yet imperfect in the practicer of virtue, who has not himself
as yet attained to perfection. But, in the case of him who is perfect, they also
appear to be perfect. And in what manner they appear so we will examine. (1.214)
The sacred scripture has appointed that the great High Priest, when he was about
to perform the ministrations appointed by the law, should be besprinkled with
water and ashes in the first place, that he might come to a remembrance of
himself. For the wise Abraham also, when he went forth to converse with God,
pronounced himself to be dust and ashes. In the second place, it enjoins him to
put on a tunic reaching down to his feet, and the variouslyembroidered thing
which was called his breastplate, an image and representation of the lightgiving
stars which appear in heaven. (1.215) For there are, as it seems, two temples
belonging to God; one being this world, in which the high priest is the divine
word, his own firstborn son. The other is the rational soul, the priest of which
is the real true man, the copy of whom, perceptible to the senses, is he who
performs his paternal vows and sacrifices, to whom it is enjoined to put on the
aforesaid tunic, the representation of the universal heaven, in order that the
world may join with the man in offering sacrifice, and that the man may likewise
co-operate with the universe. (1.216) He is now therefore shown to have these
two things, the speckled and the variegated character. We will now proceed to
explain the third and most perfect kind, which is denominated thoroughly white.
When this same high priest enters into the innermost parts of the holy temple,
he is clothed in the variegated garment, and he also assumes another linen robe,
made of the very finest flax. (1.217) And this is an emblem of vigor, and
incorruptibility, and the most brilliant light. For such a veil is a thing very
difficult to be broken, and it is made of nothing mortal, and when it is
properly and carefully purified it has a most clear and brilliant appearance.
(1.218) And these injunctions contain this figurative meaning, that of those who
in a pure and a guileless spirit serve the living God, there is no one who does
not at first depend upon the firmness and obstinacy of his mind, despising all
human affairs, which allure men with their specious bait, and injure them, and
produce weakness in them. In the next place, he aims at immortality, laughing at
the blind inventions with which mortals delude themselves. And last of all, he
shines with the unclouded and most brilliant light of truth, no longer desiring
any of the things which belong to false opinion, which prefer darkness rather
than light.

XXXVIII.
(1.219) The great high priest of the confession, then, may have now been
sufficiently described by us, being stamped with the impressions
above-mentioned, the white, the variegated, and the ring-straked and speckled.
But he who is desirous of the administration of human affairs, by name Joseph,
does not, as it appears, claim for himself any of the extreme characteristics,
but only that variegated one which is in the middle between the others. (1.220)
For we read that Joseph had a "coat of many Colors,"{52}{Genesis
37:3.} not being sprinkled with the sacred purifications, by means of which he
might have known that he himself was only a compound of dust and water, and not
being able to touch that thoroughly white and most shining raiment, virtue. But
being clothed in the much-variegated web of political affairs, with which the
smallest possible portion of truth is mixed up; and also many and large portions
of plausible, probable, and likely falsehoods, from which all the sophists of
Egypt, and all the augurs, and ventriloquists, and sorcerers spring; men skilful
in juggling, and in incantations, and in tricks of all kinds, from whose
treacherous arts it is very difficult to escape. (1.221) And it is on this
account that Moses very naturally represents this robe as stained with blood;
since the whole life of the man who is mixed up in political affairs is tainted,
warring on others and being warred against, and being aimed at, and attacked,
and shot at by all the unexpected chances which befall him. (1.222) Examine now
the man who has great influence with the people, on whom the affairs of the city
depend. Do not be alarmed at those who look with admiration upon him; and you
will find many diseases lurking within him, and you will see that he is
entangled in many disasters, and that fortune is dragging him violently in
different directions, though he bends his neck the other way, and resists,
although invisibly, and in fact that fortune is seeking to overthrow and destroy
him; or else the people themselves are impatient at his supremacy, or he is
exposed to the attacks of some more powerful rival. (1.223) And envy is a
formidable enemy, and one hard to be shaken off, clinging also to everything
that is called good fortune, and it is not easy to escape from it.

XXXIX.
(1.224) What reason is there then for our congratulating ourselves on the
administration of political affairs as if we were clothed in a garment of many
colors, deceived by its external splendour, and not perceiving its ugliness,
which is kept out of sight, and hidden, and full of treachery and guile? (1.225)
Let us then put off this flowery robe, and put on that sacred one woven with the
embroideries of virtue; for thus we shall escape the snares which want of skill,
and ignorance, and want of knowledge, and education lay for us, of which Laban
is the companion. (1.226) For when the sacred word has purified us with the
sprinklings prepared beforehand for purification, and when it has adorned us
with the select reasonings of true philosophy, and, having led us to that man
who has stood the test, has made us genuine, and conspicuous, and shining, it
blames the treacherous disposition which seeks to raise itself up to invalidate
what is said. (1.227) For the scripture says: "I have seen what Laban does
unto Thee,"{53}{Genesis 31:12.} namely, things contrary to the benefits
which I conferred on you, things impure, wicked, and altogether suited to
darkness. But it is not right for the man who anchors on the hope of the
alliance of God to crouch and tremble, to whom God says, "I am the God who
was seen by thee in the place of God." (1.228) A very glorious boast for
the soul, that God should think fit to appear to and to converse with it. And do
not pass by what is here said, but examine it accurately, and see whether there
are really two Gods. For it is said: "I am the God who was seen by
thee;" not in my place, but in the place of God, as if he meant of some
other God. (1.229) What then ought we to say? There is one true God only: but
they who are called Gods, by an abuse of language, are numerous; on which
account the holy scripture on the present occasion indicates that it is the true
God that is meant by the use of the article, the expression being, "I am
the God (ho Theos);" but when the word is used incorrectly, it is put
without the article, the expression being, "He who was seen by thee in the
place," not of the God (tou Theou), but simply "of God" (Theou);
(1.230) and what he here calls God is his most ancient word, not having any
superstitious regard to the position of the names, but only proposing one end to
himself, namely, to give a true account of the matter; for in other passages the
sacred historian, when he considered whether there really was any name belonging
to the living God, showed that he knew that there was none properly belonging to
him; but that whatever appellation any one may give him, will be an abuse of
terms; for the living God is not of a nature to be described, but only to be.

XL.
(1.231) And a proof of this may be found in the oracular answer given by God to
the person who asked what name he had, "I am that I Am,"{54}{Exodus
3:14.} that the questioner might know the existence of those things which it was
not possible for man to conceive not being connected with God. (1.232)
Accordingly, to the incorporeal souls which are occupied in his service, it is
natural for him to appear as he is, conversing with them as a friend with his
friends; but to those souls which are still in the body he must appear in the
resemblance of the angels, though without changing his nature (for he is
unchangeable), but merely implanting in those who behold him an idea of his
having another form, so that they fancy that it is his image, not an imitation
of him, but the very archetypal appearance itself. (1.233) There is then an old
story much celebrated, that the Divinity, assuming the resemblance of men of
different countries, goes round the different cities of men, searching out the
deeds of iniquity and lawlessness; and perhaps, though the fable is not true, it
is a suitable and profitable one. (1.234) But the scripture, which at all times
advances its conceptions with respect to the Deity, in a more reverential and
holy tone, and which likewise desires to instruct the life of the foolish, has
spoken of God under the likeness of a man, though not of any particular man;
(1.235) attributing to him, with this view, the possession of a face, and hands,
and feet, and of a mouth and voice, and also anger and passion, and moreover,
defensive weapons, and goings in and goings out, and motions upwards and
downwards, and in every direction, not indeed using all these expressions with
strict truth, but having regard to the advantage of those who are to learn from
it; (1.236) for the writers knew that some men are very dull in their natures,
so as to be utterly unable to form any conception whatever of God apart from a
body, whom it will be impossible to admonish if they were to speak in any other
style than the existing one, of representing God as coming and departing like a
man; and as descending and ascending, and as using his voice, and as being angry
with sinners, and being implacable in his anger; and speaking too of his darts
and swords, and whatever other instruments are suitable to be employed against
the wicked, as being all previously ready. (1.237) For we must be content if
such men can be brought to a proper state, by the fear which is suspended over
them by such descriptions; and one many almost say that these are the only two
paths taken, in the whole history of the law; one leading to plain truth, owing
to which we have such assertions as, "God is not as a
Man;"{55}{Numbers 23:19.} the other, that which has regard to the opinions
of foolish men, in reference to whom it is said, "The Lord God shall
instruct you, like as if a man instructs his Son."{56}{Deuteronomy 1:31.}

XLI.
(1.238) Why then do we any longer wonder, if God at times assumes the likeness
of the angels, as he sometimes assumes even that of men, for the sake of
assisting those who address their entreaties to him? so that when he says,
"I am the God who was seen by thee in the place of God;"{57}{Genesis
31:13.} we must understand this, that he on that occasion took the place of an
angel, as far as appearance went, without changing his own real nature, for the
advantage of him who was not, as yet, able to bear the sight of the true God;
(1.239) for as those who are not able to look upon the sun itself, look upon the
reflected rays of the sun as the sun itself, and upon the halo around the moon
as if it were the moon itself; so also do those who are unable to bear the sight
of God, look upon his image, his angel word, as himself. (1.240) Do you not see
that encyclical instruction, that is, Hagar, says to the angel, "Art thou
God who seest Me?"{58}{Genesis 16:13.} for she was not capable of beholding
the most ancient cause, inasmuch as she was by birth a native of Egypt. But now
the mind begins to be improved, so as to be able to contemplate the governor of
all the powers; (1.241) on which account he says himself, "I am the Lord
God,"{59}{Genesis 31:13.} I whose image you formerly beheld instead of me,
and whose pillar you set up, engraving on it a most sacred inscription; and the
inscription indicated that I stood alone, and that I established the nature of
all things, bringing disorder and irregularity into order and regularity, and
supporting the universe firmly, so that it might rest on a firm and solid
foundation, my own ministering word.

XLII.
(1.242) For the pillar is the symbol of three things; of standing, of
dedication, and of an inscription: now the standing and the inscription have
been described, but the dedication it is necessary should be explained to all
men. (1.243) For heaven and the world are an offering dedicated to God who made
them; and all the cosmopolitan and God-loving souls, which dedicate and
consecrate themselves to him, not allowing any mortal thing to drag them in an
opposite direction, are never weary of hallowing their own life, and adorning it
with every kind of beauty as a meet offering for him. (1.244) And he is a
foolish man who does not set up a pillar to God, but who erects one to himself
instead, attributing stability to the things of creation, which is tossed about
in every direction, and thinking those things worthy of inscriptions and
panegyrics, which are in reality full of matter for blame and accusation, and
which as such had better never have been mentioned in an inscription at all, or
if they had, had better have been speedily erased again. (1.245) On which
account the holy scripture says distinctly, "Thou shall not set up a pillar
to Thyself;"{60}{Deuteronomy 16:22.} for in truth there is nothing
belonging to man that is stable, no, not though some persons persist even so
obstinately in affirming it. (1.246) But they not only think that they stand
firmly, but also that they are worthy of honors and inscriptions, forgetting him
who is alone worthy of honor, and who is alone firmly fixed; for while they are
turning aside and wandering away from the path which leads to virtue, the
outward sense leads them still more astray, that is to say, the woman who is
akin to them, she also compels them to run ashore; (1.247) therefore, the whole
soul, like a ship, {61}{mangey thinks that this passage is corrupt, and proposes
to alter naus into apnous, "dead," but it seems unnecessary.} being
shut in all around, is offered up as a pillar; for the sacred scriptures tell us
that Lot's wife having turned back to look behind her, became a pillar of salt,
(1.248) and this is said very naturally and fitly; for if any one does not look
forwards at those things which are worthy of being seen and heard (and these
things are the virtues and the actions done in accordance with virtue), but
looks backwards at the things which are behind him, at deaf glory, and blind
riches, and senseless vigor of body, and an empty elegance of mind, pursuing
these objects only, and such as are akin to them, he will lie as a lifeless
pillar melting away by itself; for salt is not a thing to preserve his firmness.

XLIII.
(1.249) Very admirably therefore does the practicer of virtue, having learnt by
continued study that creation is a thing in its own nature moveable, but that
the uncreated God is unchangeable and immoveable, erect a pillar to God, and
anoint it after he has erected it; for God says, "Thou hast anointed my
Pillar."{62}{Genesis 31:13.} (1.250) But do not fancy that that stone was
anointed with oil, but understand rather that that opinion, that God is the only
being who stands firmly, was thoroughly hardened by exercise, and established in
the soul by the science of wrestling, not that science by which bodies are made
fat, but that by which the mind acquires strength and irresistible vigor;
(1.251) for the man who is eager in the pursuit of good studies and virtuous
objects is fond of labors, and fond of exercises; so that very naturally, having
worked out the science of training which is the sister of the art of medicine,
he anoints and brings to perfection all the reasonings of virtue and piety, and
dedicates them, as a most beautiful and lasting offering to God. (1.252) For
this reason, after mentioning the dedication of the pillar, God adds that,
"Thou vowedst a vow to me." Now a vow also is, to speak properly, a
dedication, since he who makes a vow is said to offer up, as a gift to God, not
only his own possessions, but himself likewise, who is the owner of them;
(1.253) for says the scripture, "the man is holy who nourishes the locks of
the hair of his head; who has vowed a vow." But if he is holy he is
undoubtedly an offering to God, no longer meddling with anything unholy or
profane; (1.254) and there is an evidence in favor of my argument, in the
conduct of the prophetess, and mother of a prophet, Hannah, whose name being
translated, signifies grace; for she says that she gives her son, "Samuel,
as a gift to the Holy One,"{63}{1Samuel 1:28.} not dedicating him more as a
human being, than as a disposition full of inspiration, and possessed by a
divinely sent impulse; and the name Samuel being interpreted means,
"appointed to God." (1.255) Why then, O my soul, do you any longer
waste yourself in vain speculations and labors? and why do you not go as a pupil
to the practicer of virtue, taking up arms against the passions, and against
vain opinion, to learn from him the way to wrestle with them? For as soon as you
have learnt this art, you will become the leader of a flock, not of one which is
destitute of marks, and of reason, and of docility, but of one which is well
approved, and rational, and beautiful, (1.256) of which, if you become the
leader, you will pity the miserable race of mankind, and will not cease to
reverence the Deity; and you will never be weary of blessing God, and moreover
you will engrave hymns suited to your sacred subject upon pillars, that you may
not only speak fluently, but may also sing musically the virtues of the living
God; for by these means you will be able to return to your father's house, being
delivered from a long a profitless wandering in and foreign land.

BOOK
2

I.
(2.1) In describing the third species of dreams which are sent from God, we very
naturally call on Moses as an ally, in order that as he learnt, having
previously been ignorant, so he may instruct us who are also ignorant,
concerning these signs, illustrating each separate one of them. Now this third
species of dreams exists, whenever in sleep the mind being set in motion by
itself, and agitating itself, is filled with frenzy and inspiration, so as to
predict future events by a certain prophetic power. (2.2) For the first kind of
dreams which we mentioned, was that which proceeded from God as the author of
its motion, and, as some invisible manner prompted us what was indistinct to us,
but well known to himself. The second kind was when our own intellect was set in
motion simultaneously with the soul of the universe, and became filled with
divine madness, by means of which it is allowed to prognosticate events which
are about to happen; (2.3) and for this reason the interpreter of the sacred
will very plainly and clearly speaks of dreams, indicating by this expression
the visions which appear according to the first species, as if God, by means of
dreams, gave suggestions which were equivalent to distinct and precise oracles.
Of the visions according to the second species he speaks neither very clearly
nor very obscurely; an instance of which is afforded by the vision which was
exhibited of the ladder reaching up to heaven; for this version was an
enigmatical one; nevertheless, the meaning was not hidden from those who were
able to see with any great acuteness. (2.4) But these visions which are afforded
according to the third species of dreams, being less clear than the two former
kinds by reason of their having an enigmatical meaning deeply seated and fully
colored, require the science of an interpreter of dreams. At all events all the
dreams of this class, which are recorded by the lawgiver, are interpreted by men
who are skilled in the aforesaid art. (2.5) Whose dreams then am I here alluding
to? Surely every one must see to those of Joseph, and of Pharaoh king of Egypt,
and to those which the chief baker and chief butler saw themselves; (2.6) and it
may be well at all times to begin our instruction with the first instances. Now
the first dreams are those which Joseph beheld, receiving two visions from the
two parts of the world, heaven and earth. From the earth the dream about the
harvest; and that is as follows, "I thought that we were all binding
sheaves in the middle of the field; and my sheaf stood Up."{64}{Genesis
37:7.} (2.7) And the other relates to the circle of the zodiac, and is,
"They worshipped me as the sun and the moon and the eleven stars." And
the interpretation of the former one, which was delivered with great violence of
reproof, is as follows, "Shall you be a king and reign over us? or shall
you be a lord and lord it over us?" The interpretation of the second is
again full of just indignation, "Shall I, and thy mother, and thy brethren
come and fall down upon the ground and worship thee?"

II.
(2.8) Let these things be laid down first by way of foundation; and on this
foundation let us raise up the rest of the building, following the rules of that
wise architect, allegory, and accurately investigating each particular of the
dreams; but first we must mention what it is requisite should be attended to
before the dreams. Some persons have extended the nature of good over many
things, and others have attributed it to the most excellent Being alone; some
again have mixed it with other things, while others have spoken of it as
unalloyed. (2.9) Those then who have called only what is honorable good, have
preserved this nature free from alloy, and have attributed it only to what is
most excellent, namely to the reason that is in us; but those who have mixed it
have combined it with three things, the soul, the body, and external
circumstances. And they who act thus are persons of a somewhat effeminate and
luxurious way of life, being bred up the greater part of their time, from their
earliest infancy, in the women's apartments and among the effeminate race which
is found in the women's apartments. But those who argue differently are men
inclined to a harder regimen, being bred up from their boyhood among men, and
being themselves men in their minds, embracing what is right in preference to
what is pleasant, and devoting themselves to nourishment fit for athletes for
the sake of strength and vigor, not of pleasure. (2.10) Moses moreover
represents two persons as leaders of these two companies. The leader of the
noble and good company is the self-taught and self-instructed Isaac; for he
records that he was weaned, not choosing to avail himself at all of tender, and
milk-like, and childish, and infantine food, but only of such as was vigorous
and perfect, inasmuch as he was formed by nature, from his very infancy, for
acts of virtue, and was always in the prime and vigor of youth and energy. But
the leader of the company, which yields and which is inclined to softer
measures, is Joseph; (2.11) for he does not indeed neglect the virtues of the
soul, but he likewise shows anxiety about the stability and permanence of the
body, and also desires an abundance of worldly treasures; and it is in strict
accordance with natural truth, that he is represented as drawn in different
directions, since he proposes to himself many different objects in life; and
being attracted by each of them, he is kept in a state of commotion and
agitation, without being able to stand firm. (2.12) And his case is not like
that of cities, which having made a truce enjoy peace, and yet after a time are
again attacked, so as to gain the victory and to be defeated alternately; for at
times a great influx of riches and glory coming upon them, subdues all their
cares for the body and the soul, but afterwards, being repelled by both these
things, they are conquered by the adversary; (2.13) and in the same manner all
the pleasures of the body coming upon the soul in a compact array overwhelm and
efface all the objects of the intellect one after the other; and then, after a
short time, wisdom, changing its course and blowing in the opposite direction
with a fresh and violent breeze, causes the stream of the pleasures to slacken,
and altogether moderates all the eagerness, and impetuosity, and rivalry of the
external senses. (2.14) Such a circle then of never-ending war revolves around
the soul, subject as it is to so many changes; for when one enemy has been
destroyed, then immediately there springs up another more powerful, after the
fashion of the many-headed hydra; for they say, that in the case of this
monster, instead of the head which was cut off another sprung up, by which
statement they mean to intimate the multiform, and prolific, and almost
invincible character of undying wickedness. (2.15) Do not, therefore, answer
[...] Joseph [...]{65}{there is an hiatus here, and there is a good deal of
corruption about the beginning of this book.} but know that he is the image of
multiform and mixed knowledge. For there appears in him a rational species of
continence, which is of the masculine kind, being fashioned in accordance with
his father Jacob; (2.16) and also that kind which is devoid of reason is
likewise visible, that of the outward sense I mean, being made in the likeness
of his maternal race, according to Rachel. There appears in him also the seed of
bodily pleasures, which his association with the chief butlers, and chief
bakers, and chief cooks has stamped upon him. There is, also visible the seed of
vain opinion, on which he mounts as on a chariot by reason of his levity, being
puffed up, and elated, and raising himself to a height to the destruction of
equality.

III.
(2.17) Now the character of Joseph is sketched out by the foregoing outlines.
But each of his dreams must be investigated with accuracy; and first of all we
must examine the one about the sheaves. "I thought," says he,
"that we were all binding sheaves." The expression, "I
thought," is clearly that of a person who is not certain, but who is
hesitating and supposing with some amount of indistinctness, not of one who sees
positively and clearly; (2.18) for it is very natural for persons just awakening
out of a deep sleep, and still dozing at it were, to say, "I thought;"
but not so for people who are thoroughly awake, and who can see distinctly.
(2.19) And the practicer of virtue, Jacob, does not say, "I thought,"
but his language is, "Behold, a ladder firmly set, the head of which
reached up to Heaven."{66}{Genesis 28:12.} And again he says, when
"the sheep conceived I saw them with my eyes in my sleep, and behold the
he-goats and the rams leapt upon the ewes and upon the she-goats, white, and
variegated, and ring-straked, and Speckled."{67}{Genesis 31:10.} (2.20) For
it happens of necessity that the sleeping conceptions also of those who think
what is honorable and eligible for its own sake and more distinct and more pure,
just as their waking actions are also more deserving of approbation.

IV.
(2.21) But when I hear Jacob relating his dream I marvel at his having fancied
that he was binding up the sheaves, and not reaping the corn; for the one is the
task of the lower classes and of servants, but the other is the occupation of
the employers, and of men more skilled in agriculture. (2.22) For to be able to
distinguish what is necessary from what is mischievous, and what is nutritious
from what is not so, and what is genuine from what is spurious, and useful fruit
from a worthless root, not only in reference to those things which the land
bears, but also in those which the intellect bears, is the work of most perfect
virtue. (2.23) Accordingly the holy scripture represents those who see, that is
the sons of Israel, as reaping, and what is a most extraordinary thing, as
reaping not barley or wheat, but the harvest itself; accordingly the language of
Moses is, "When you reap your harvest, you shall not wholly reap the
corners of your Harvest."{68}{Leviticus 19:9.} (2.24) For he means here
that the virtuous man is not merely the judge of things which differ from one
another, and that he does not only distinguish the things from which some
produce is derived from the produce itself; but that he is able also to
distinguish while reaping the harvest, to remove this opinion of his ability to
distinguish, and to eradicate a man's own opinion of himself; because he is
firmly persuaded, and believes Moses when he affirms that "judgment belongs
to God Alone,"{69}{Deuteronomy 1:17.} with whom are the comparisons and
distinctions between all things; to whom it is well for a man to confess that he
is inferior, a confession more glorious than the most renowned victory. (2.25)
Now the reaping a harvest is like cutting a second time what has been cut
already; which when some persons fond of novelty applied themselves to they
found a circumcision of circumcision, and a purification of purification;
{70}{Numbers 6:2.} that is to say, they found that the purification of the soul
was itself purified, attributing the power of making bright to God, and never
fancying that they themselves were competent, without the assistance of the
divine wisdom, to wash and cleanse a life which is full of stains. (2.26) Akin
to this is the double cave, which is a symbol of the twofold and excellent
recollections (the one existing in reference to the creature, and the other to
the Creator), in which the virtuous man is bred up, contemplating the things
which are in the world, and being also fond of inquiring about the father who
made them; (2.27) and it is owing to these twofold recollections, in my opinion,
that the double symphony in music, that of the double diapason, was invented.
(2.28) For it was necessary that the work and the creator should be made happy
in two most perfect melodies, and not both in the same one. For since the
excellencies which were to be celebrated by them differed from one another, it
followed of necessity that the melodies and symphonies should likewise differ
from one another. The combined symphony being assigned to the world, which is a
compound creation, composed of many different parts; and the disjoined melody
being appropriated to him who, as to his essence, is separated from every
creature, namely, to God. (2.29) Moreover, the interpreter of the sacred will
again enunciates an opinion friendly to virtue, saying that it is not proper
"to thoroughly reap every corner of the harvest field;" remembering
the original proposition, according to which he agreed that "the tribute
belonged to the Lord,"{71}{Numbers 31:28.} to whom the authority and the
conformation of these things also belong; (2.30) but he who is uninitiated in
reaping boasts, so far as to say, "I thought that I was with the others
binding up the sheaves which I had Reaped."{72}{Genesis 37:7.} And he does
not consider that this is the occupation of servants and unskilled hands, as I
have said a little while ago. (2.31) But this word sheaves is an allegorical
expression by which affairs are really meant, such as each man takes in hand for
the support of his house, in which he hopes to live and dwell for ever.

V.
(2.32) There are, therefore, an infinite number of differences between sheaves,
that is to say, between such affairs as support a house. There are also a
countless host of differences between those who gather and take up the sheaves
in their hand, so that it is impossible to mention or even to imagine them all.
Still it is not out of place to describe a few of them by way of example, which
he too mentioned, when he was recounting his dream. (2.33) For he says to his
brethren, "I thought that we were binding up sheaves." Now, of
brethren he has ten, who are sons of the same father as himself, and one who is
by the same mother; and the name of each individual among them is an emblem of
some most necessary thing. Reuben is an emblem of natural acuteness, for he is
called "the son who sees," being in so far as he is a son not perfect,
but in so far as he is endowed with the faculty of sight and sees acutely, he is
naturally well qualified. (2.34) Simeon is an emblem of learning, for his name
being interpreted means, "listening." Levi is a symbol of virtuous
energies and actions, and of holy ministrations. Judas is an emblem of songs and
hymns addressed to God. Issachar, of wages which are given for good work; but
perhaps the works themselves are their own perfect reward. Zabulon is a symbol
of light, since his name means the departure of night; and when the night
departs and leaves us, then of necessity light arises. (2.35) Dan is a symbol of
the distinction between, and division of, different things. Gad is an emblem of
the invasion of pirates, and of a counter attack made upon them. Asser is a
symbol of natural wealth, for his name being interpreted, signifies "a
calling blessed," since wealth is accounted a blessed possession. (2.36)
Napthali is a symbol of peace, for all things are open and extended by peace, as
on the other hand they are closed by war; and his name being interpreted means,
"widening," or "that which is opened." Benjamin is an emblem
of young and old times; for being interpreted his name means "the son of
days," and both young time and old time are measured by days and nights.
(2.37) Accordingly, every one of them takes up in his hand what belongs to
himself; and having taken it up, binds all the parts together; the man well
endowed by nature taking up the parts of dexterity, and perseverance, and
memory, of which good natural endowments consist; the man who has learnt well
takes up the parts of listening, tranquility, and attention; the man willing to
endeavor takes up courage and a happy confidence which does not shrink from
danger; (2.38) the man inclined to gratitude takes up praises, panegyrics,
hymns, and blessings, both in speaking and in singing; the man who is eager for
wages takes up unhesitating industry, most enduring gratitude, and care, armed
with a promptitude which is not to be despised; (2.39) he who pursues light
rather than darkness takes up wakefulness and acuteness of sight; the man who is
an admirer of the division of and distinction between things takes up
wellsharpened reasons so as not to be deceived by things similar to one another
as if they were identical, impartiality so as not to be led away by favor, and
incorruptibility; (2.40) he who, in something of a piratical fashion, lays
ambuscades against those who counterplot against him, takes up deceit, cajolery,
trickery, sophistry, pretence, and hypocrisy, which being in their own nature
blamable, are nevertheless praised when employed against the enemy; he who
studies to be rich in the riches of nature takes up temperance and frugality; he
who loves peace takes up obedience to law, a good reputation, freedom from
pride, and equality.

VI.
(2.41) It is of these things, then, that the sheaves of his brethren by the same
father are composed and bound up; but the sheaf of his uterine brother is
composed of days and of time, which are the causes of nothing, as if they were
the causes of all things. (2.42) But the dreamer and interpreter of dreams
himself, for he united both characters, makes a sheaf of empty opinion as of the
greatest and most brilliant of possessions and the most useful to life. For
which reason it is originally by his dreams, which are things dear to night,
that he is made known to the king of the bodily country, and not by any
performance of conspicuous actions, which require day for their exhibition.
(2.43) After that, he is appointed overseer or governor of all
Egypt
, and is honored with the second rank in the kingdom, and made inferior in honor
only to the king. All which things are in the eye of wisdom, if that were the
judge, more inglorious and more ridiculous than even defeat and dishonor. (2.44)
After that he puts on a golden necklace, a most illustrious halter, the circlet
and wheel of interminable necessity, not the consequence and regular order of
things in life, nor the connection of the affairs of nature as Thamar was; for
her ornament was not a necklace, but an armlet. Moreover, he assumes a ring, a
royal gift which is no gift, a pledge devoid of good faith, the very contrary
gift to that which was given to the same Thamar by Judah the son of the seeing
king, Israel; (2.45) for God gives to the soul a seal, a very beautiful gift, to
show that he has invested with shape the essence of all things which was
previously devoid of shape, and has stamped with a particular character that
which previously had no character, and has endowed with form that which had
previously no distinctive form, and having perfected the entire world, he has
impressed upon it an image and appearance, namely, his own word. (2.46) But
Joseph also mounts the second chariot, being puffed up with elation of mind and
vain arrogance. And he is regulator of the provisions, laying up and preserving
the treasures for the body, and providing it with food from all quarters: and
this is a very formidable fortification against the soul. (2.47) Moreover, his
deliberate choice of life, and the life which he admires, is testified to in no
slight degree by his name; for Joseph, being interpreted, means
"addition;" and vain opinion is always adding what is spurious to what
is genuine, and what is the property of others to what is one's own, and what is
false to what is true, and what is superfluous to what is adequate, and luxury
to what is sufficient to support existence, and pride to life.

VII.
(2.48) Consider now what it is which I am here desirous to prove. We are
nourished by meat and drink, even though the meat be the most ordinary corn, and
the drink plain water from the stream. Moreover, besides this, vain opinion has
added to it an infinite number of varieties of cakes, and cheese-cakes, and
sweetmeats, and costly and various mixtures of an indescribable multitude of
wines, for the enjoyment of pleasure rather than for a participation in
necessary food properly prepared. (2.49) Again, the necessary seasonings for
eating, are leeks, {73}{Numbers 11:4.} and vegetables, and many fruits of trees,
and cheese, and other things of that sort; and if you wish to include
carnivorous men, we must, besides, add fish and meat to these items. (2.50)
Would it not, then, have been sufficient to broil these things upon the coals,
or to roast them at the fire, and then eat them at once, after the fashion of
those true heroes of old times? But the epicure is eager not only for such
things as these, but he takes vain opinion for his ally, and excites the
gluttonous passions which are within him, and seeks out and hunts all about for
confectioners and pastrycooks of high reputation in their art. (2.51) And they,
bringing forward the different baits for his miserable stomach, which have been
invented after long consideration, and preparing all kinds of peculiar flavors,
and arranging them in due order, tickle, and allure, and subdue the tongue.
Then, immediately they circumvent that foundation of the outward senses, the
taste, by means of which the banquet-hunter in a very short time is rendered a
slave instead of a free man. (2.52) For who is there who does not know that
clothes were originally made as a defense against the injuries which might arise
to the body from cold and heat? as the poets say somewhere:--

"Taming
the wind in the winter."

(2.53)
Who, therefore, thinks of costly purple garments? Who cares about transparent
and thin summer robes? Who wishes for a garment delicate as a spider's web? Who
is eager to have embroidered for him apparel flowered over with dyes and
brocaded figures, by those who are skilful in sewing and weaving cunning
embroidery, and are superior in their handwork to the imitative skill of the
painter? Who, I say? Who, but vain opinion.

VIII.
(2.54) And, indeed, it is for the same reasons that we had need of houses,
requiring them also for protection against the attacks of wild beasts, or of men
more savage in their nature than even wild beasts. Why is it, then, that we
adorn the pavements and floors with costly stones? And why do we travel over
Asia, and Africa, and all
Europe
, and the islands, searching for pillars and capitals, and architraves, and
selecting them with reference to their superior beauty? (2.55) And why are we
anxious for, and why do we vie with one another in specimens of Doric, and
Ionic, and Corinthian sculpture, and in all the refinements which luxurious men
have devised in addition to the existing customs, adorning the capitals of their
pillars? And why do we furnish our chambers for men and for women with golden
ornaments? Is it not all from our being influenced by vain opinion? (2.56) And
yet, for sound sleep, the mere ground was sufficient (since, even to the present
day, the accounts tell us that the gymnosophists, among the Indians, sleep on
the ground in accordance with their ancient customs); and if it were not, at all
events a couch made of carefully chosen stones or plain pieces of wood, would be
a sufficient bed; (2.57) but now the poles of our ladders are ornamented with
ivory feet, and workmen inlay our beds with costly mother-of-pearl and
variegated tortoise-shell, at great expense of labor, and money, and time: and
some beds are even made of solid silver or solid gold, and inlaid with precious
stones, with all kinds of flowery work, and embossed golden ornaments strewed
about them, as if for mere display and magnificence, and not for daily use. The
contriver of all which is again the same vain opinion. (2.58) Again: why need we
seek for more in the way of ointment than the juice pressed out of the fruit of
the olive? For that softens the limbs, and relieves the labor of the body, and
produces a good condition of the flesh; and if anything has got relaxed or
flabby, it binds it again, and makes it firm and solid, and it fills us with
vigor and strength of muscle, no less than any other unguent. (2.59) But the
pleasant unguents of vain opinion, are set up in opposition to those that are
merely useful, on which the perfumers work, and to which vast regions
contribute, such as Syria, Babylon, the Indians, and the Scythians; in which
nations the origins of all perfumes are found.

IX.
(2.60) Again, with respect to drinking; what more could man really have need of
than the cup of nature wrought with the perfection of art? Now such a cup our
own hands supply, which, if any one brings together and forms into a hollow,
applying them closely to his mouth, while another pours in the liquid to be
drank, he gets not only a remedy for his thirst, but also a most indescribable
pleasure. (2.61) Still, if one were absolutely in need of something else, would
not the ivy cup of the agricultural laborer be sufficient? and why should it be
requisite to have recourse to the arts of other eminent artists? And what can be
the use of providing a countless multitude of gold and silver goblets, it if be
not for the gratification of boastful and vain-glorious arrogance, and of vain
opinion raising itself to an undue height? (2.62) Again, when men wear crowns,
they are not content with fragrant garlands of laurel, or ivy, or violets, or
lilies, or roses, or of any three whatever, or of any flower, neglecting all the
gifts of God, which he bestows upon us as the various seasons of the year, but
they put golden crowns on their heads, which are a very grievous weight, wearing
them in the middle of the crowded marketplace without any shame. And what can we
think of such men, but that they are slaves of vain opinion, in spite of their
asserting themselves not only to be free, but even to be rulers over many other
persons? (2.63) The day would fail me if I were to go through all the varieties
of human life; and yet, why need I dwell on the subject with prolixity? For who
is there who has not heard, or who has not seen, such men as these? Who is there
who does not associate with, and who is not familiar with them? So that the
sacred scripture has very appropriately named "addition" the enemy of
simplicity and the companion of pride; (2.64) for as superfluous shoots do grow
on trees, which are a great injury to the genuine useful branches, and which the
cultivators destroy and cut out from a prudent foreknowledge of what is
necessary: so likewise the life of falsehood and arrogance often grows up by the
side of the true life devoid of pride, of which, to this day, no cultivator has
been found who has been able to cut away the injurious superfluous growth by the
roots. (2.65) Therefore the practicers of wisdom, knowing this in the first
instance by the outward sense, and secondly, pursuing it by the mind, cry out
loudly and say, "A wicked beast has seized and devoured
Joseph."{74}{Genesis 37:33.} (2.66) But does not that most ferocious beast,
the various pride which springs up in the life of men living in irregularity and
confusion, whose chief workmen are covetousness and unscrupulous cunning, devour
every one who comes within his reach? Therefore grief will be added to them,
even while they are alive, as though they were dead, since they have a life
worthy of lamentation and mourning, since Jacob mourns for Joseph, even while he
is alive. (2.67) But Moses will not allow the sacred reasonings about Nadab to
be bewailed; {75}{Leviticus 10:6.} for they have not been carried off by a
savage beast, but have been taken up by unextinguishable violence and
imperishable light; because, having discarded all fear and hesitation, they had
duly consecrated the fervent and fiery zeal, consuming the flesh, and very
easily and vehemently excited towards piety, which is unconnected with creation,
but is akin to God, not going up to the altar by the regular steps, for that was
forbidden by law, but proceeding rapidly onwards with a favorable gale, and
being conducted up even to the threshold of heaven, becoming dissolved into
ethereal beams like a whole burnt-offering.

X.
(2.68) Therefore, O thou soul, that art obedient to thy teacher! thou must cut
off thine hand and thy power when it begins to take hold of the parts of
generation; that is to say, of things created, or of human pursuits; (2.69) for
very often ... to cut off the hand which has laid hold of the privy
Parts,"{76}{Deuteronomy 25:12.} in the first place, because it has gladly
received the pleasure which it ought rather to hate; and, secondly, because it
has thought that the faculty of propagating seed was in our own power, and also,
because it has attributed to the creature that power which belongs to the
Creator. (2.70) Dost thou not see that the earthly mass, Adam, when it lays its
hands upon the two trees, dies, because it has preferred the number two to the
unit, and because it has admired the creature in preference to the Creator? But
do thou go forth beyond the reach of the smoke and the tempest, and flee from
the ridiculous pursuits of mortal life as a fearful whirlpool, and do not, as
the proverb has it, touch them even with the tip of thy finger. (2.71) And when
thou hast girded thyself up for the sacred ministrations, having made broad thy
whole hand and thy whole power, then take a firm hold of the speculations of
instruction and wisdom; for the command is of this kind, "If a soul brings
a gift or a sacrifice, the gift shall be of fine wheaten
Flour."{77}{Leviticus 2:1.} After that the lawgiver adds: "And when he
has taken a full handful of the fine wheaten flour, with the oil, and with all
the frankincense, he places the memorial on the altar of sacrifice." (2.72)
Is not this a very beautiful and appropriate expression of Moses, to call that
soul incorporeal which is about to offer sacrifice, but not to call the double
mass which consists of mortality and immortality by any such name? For that
which vows the vow--that which is full of gratitude--that which offers such
sacrifices as are truly without spot, is one thing only, namely, the soul.
(2.73) What then is the offering of the incorporeal soul? What is the fine
wheaten flour, a symbol of the mind purified by the suggestions of instruction,
which is able to render the friend of education free from all disease, and life
free from all reproach? (2.74) From which the priest taking a handful within his
whole hand, that is to say, with the whole grasp of his mind, is commanded to
offer up the whole soul itself, full of the most unalloyed and pure doctrines,
as the most excellent of sacrifices, fat and in good condition, rejoicing in
divine light, and redolent of the exhalations which are given forth by justice,
and by the other virtues, so as always to enjoy a most fragrant, and delicious,
and happy life; for the oil and the frankincense, of which the priest takes a
handful with the white meat, contain a figurative assertion of this.

XI.
(2.75) It is on this account that Moses set apart an especial festival for the
sheaf; however, not for every sheaf, but for that which came from the sacred
land. "For when," says he, "you come into the land which I give
unto you, and when you reap its harvest, you shall bring sheaves as a first
fruit of your harvest to the Priest."{78}{Leviticus 23:10.} (2.76) And the
meaning of this injunction is, when, O mind, you come into the country of
virtue, which it is fitting should be offered up to God

alone,
being a land good for pasture, a land of rich soil, a land which bears fruit,
and when you reap the fruit (either that afforded by the land spontaneously or
that which thou hast sown), which has been brought to perfection by the God who
gives perfection; carry it not home to thy house; that is to say, do not store
it up, and do not attribute to thyself the cause of the crop which has arisen to
thee, before thou has offered the first fruits to the Cause of all wealth, and
to him who persuaded thee to study the operations which confer riches. (2.77)
And it is enjoined that you shall offer the "first fruits of your own
harvest;" not of the harvest of the land, in order that we may reap and
gather in the harvest for ourselves; dedicating to God all good and nutritious,
and beneficial fruits.

XII.
(2.78) But the man who is at the same time initiated in dreams and also an
interpreter of dreams, is bold to say that his sheaf rose and stood upright; for
in real truth, as spirited horses lift their necks high, so all who are
companions of vain opinion place themselves above all things, above all cities,
and laws, and national customs, and above all the circumstances which affect
each individual of them. (2.79) Then proceeding onwards from being demagogues to
being leaders of the people, and overthrowing the things which belong to their
neighbours, and setting up and establishing on a solid footing what belongs to
themselves, that is to say, all such dispositions as are free and by nature
impatient of slavery, they attempt to reduce these also under their power;
(2.80) on which account the dreamer adds, "And your sheaves turning towards
my sheaf made obeisance unto It."{79}{Genesis 37:7.} For the lover of
modesty marvels at and fears the stiffnecked, and the cautious person fears the
self-willed man, and he who reverences holiness fears that which is impious both
for himself and for others. (2.81) And is not this reasonable? For inasmuch as
the good man is a spectator, not only of human life but also of all the things
which exist in the world, he knows how many things are accustomed to be caused
by necessity, and chance, and opportunity, and violence, and authority; and what
numbers of propositions, and what great instances of prosperity proceeding
onwards with rapidity towards heaven, the same causes have shaken and
overthrown; (2.82) so that he will of necessity take up caution as a shield, as
a protection to prevent his suffering any sudden and unexpected evil; for as I
imagine what a wall is to a city, that caution is to an individual. (2.83) Do
not these men then talk foolishly, are they not mad, who desire to display their
inexperience and freedom of speech to kings and tyrants, at times daring to
speak and to do things in opposition to their will? Do they not perceive that
they have not only put their necks under the yoke like brute beasts, but that
they have also surrendered and betrayed their whole bodies and souls likewise,
and their wives and their children, and their parents, and all the rest of the
numerous kindred and community of their other relations? And is it not lawful
for the charioteer, and also for the passenger, with all freedom to spur, and to
urge forward, and to check, and to hold back, according as he desires to arrange
things, so as to make them greater or smaller. (2.84) Therefore, being pricked
with goads, and flogged, and mutilated, and suffering all the cruelties which
can be inflicted in an inhuman and pitiless manner before death, all together,
they are led away to execution and put to death.

XIII.
(2.85) These are the rewards of unseemly freedom of speech, not of that which is
accounted such by right-thinking judges, but of that license which is full of
folly, and insanity of mind, and of incurable distemper. What do you mean? Does
anyone, when he sees a storm at its height, and a violent gale opposing him, and
a hurricane raging tempestuously, and the sea full of vast waves, when he ought
to anchor his ship, does anyone, I say, at such a moment weigh anchor and put to
sea? (2.86) What pilot, or what captain of a ship, was ever so drunk and
intoxicated, as, while all the dangers which I have just enumerated were
threatening him, to be willing to set sail, lest, if his vessel became
water-logged by the sea breaking over it from above, it might be swallowed up
with all its crew? For, if he had been inclined to meet with a voyage free from
danger, it was in his power to wait for calm weather and a smooth and favorable
breeze. (2.87) What would one say, suppose anyone were to see a bear or a lion
coming on with violence, and, while he might pacify and tame him, were to
provoke him and make him savage, in order to give up himself as an unpitied meal
and feast to those ravenous monsters? (2.88) Unless indeed anyone will assert
that it is of no use to anyone to oppose the asps and serpents of Egypt, and all
the other things which ... destructive poison ... inflict inevitable death on
those who are once bitten by them; for that men must be content to use
incantations, and so to tame those beasts, and by such means to avoid suffering
any evil from them. (2.89) Moreover, are there not certain men who are more
savage and more treacherous than boars, or serpents, or asps? whose treacherous
and malignant disposition it is impossible to escape otherwise than by
gentleness and caresses? Therefore the wise Abraham will offer adoration to the
sons of Cheth, and their name being interpreted, means "admiring,"
because the occasion persuades him to do so. (2.90) For he has not come to this
action of adoration because he honors person who, by nature, and by hereditary
qualities, and by their own habits, are enemies to reason, and who miserably
waste the coinage of the soul, namely instruction, corrupting, and adulterating,
and clipping it, but because he fears their present power and their scarcely
conquerable strength, and is on his guard not to provoke them, he takes refuge
in that great and powerful possession and weapon of virtue, that most excellent
place of abode for wise souls, the double cave, which he could not occupy while
warring and fighting, but only by acting as a champion and servant of reason.
(2.91) What? Do not we also, when we are spending our time in the market-place,
frequently wonder at the masters, and also at the beasts of burden? But we
wonder at these two classes, with different and not the same feelings. For we
look upon the masters with honor, and upon the beasts of burden with fear, lest
some injury should be done to us by them. (2.92) And when an opportunity offers,
it is a good thing to attack our enemies and put down their power; but when we
have no such opportunity, it is better to be quiet; but if we wish to find
perfect safety as far as they are concerned, it is advantageous to caress them.

XIV.
(2.93) On which account it is even now proper to praise those persons who do not
yield to the president of vain opinion but who withstand him and say,
"Shall you be a king and rule over Us?"{80}{Genesis 37:8.} For they do
not see him actually in possession of kingly power, they do not see him as yet
kindled like a flame, and shining and blazing in the unlimited fuel, but only
smouldering like a spark, dreaming of glory, and not visibly having attained to
it; (2.94) for they also suggest favorable hopes to themselves as if they will
not be able to be overcome by him; for which reason they say, "Shall you
reign over us?" Which is equivalent to saying, Do you expect to be a king
over us while we are living, existing, strong, and breathing? Perhaps, indeed,
you may make yourself master of such as are weak people, but with respect to us
who are strong you will be looked upon us as a subject. (2.95) And, indeed, this
is the natural state of the case. For when right reason is powerful in the soul,
vain opinion is put down; but when right reason is weak, vain opinion is strong.
As long, therefore, as the soul has its own power still safe, and as long as it
is not mutilated in any part of it, it may well have confidence to attack and
aim its arrows at the pride which resists it, and it may indulge in freedom of
speech, saying, "You shall not be a king, you shall not be a lord either
over us, or during our lifetime over others; (2.96) but we, with our body-guards
and shield-bearers, the offspring of wisdom, will overthrow your attacks and
baffle your threats with one single sally of ours. In reference to which
circumstances it is said, "They began to hate him because of his dreams and
because of his words." (2.97) But are not all the images which pride sets
up and worships mere words and dreams, while, on the contrary, those things
alone deserve to be called actions and real energies which are referable to
correct life and right reason? And the one class are worthy of hatred as being
false, and the other class deserve friendship as being full of desirable and
lovely truth. (2.98) Let no one, therefore, venture to bring accusations against
the virtues of such men, as if they exhibited a specimen of an inhuman and
unbrotherly disposition; but let any one who is disposed to do so, learn that it
is not a man who is now being judged of, but the disposition which exists in the
soul of each individual, which is mad on the subject of glory and arrogant
pride; let him embrace these men who have adopted irreconcileable enmity and
hatred towards this disposition, and let him never love what is hated by them.
(2.99) Knowing thoroughly that such judges are never deceived so as to wander
from a sound opinion, but that, having learnt from the beginning to understand
who is the true king, namely, the Lord, they indignantly refuse to worship him
who deprives God of his honor, and seeks to appropriate it to himself, and who
invites his fellow servants to do him service.

XV.
(2.100) On which account they say with confidence, "Shall you be a king and
reign over us?" Are you ignorant that we are not independent, but that we
are under the government of an immortal king, the only God? And why should you
be a lord and lord it over us? for are we not under domination, and have we not
now, and shall we not have for ever, and ever the same one Lord? in being whose
servants we rejoice more than any one else can do in his liberty; for to be the
servant of God is the most excellent of all things which are honored in
creation. (2.101) I, therefore, should pray that I myself also might be able to
abide firmly in the things which have been decided by these men; overseers of
things, not of bodies, and just, and sober all their lives, so as never to be
deceived by any of those things which are accustomed to deceive mankind. (2.102)
But up to this time I am in a state of intoxication, and I am laboring under
much uncertainty, and I have need of a staff and of a guide like a blind man;
for if I had a staff to support me, then, perhaps, I might neither stumble nor
fall. (2.103) But if any persons who are conscious that they are but
inconsiderate and precipitate, pay no attention to and do not care to follow
those who have investigated all necessary matters with diligence and
circumspection, nor, though they themselves are ignorant of the road, submit to
the guidance of those who are acquainted with it, let them know that they have
entered a course which is very difficult to travel through, and that they are
entangled in it, and will not be able to advance further; (2.104) but I am so
bound by treaties to these men, the moment I have a little recovered from my
intoxication, that I think the same person both a friend and an enemy. But at
present I will drive from me and hate that dreamer no less than they do; for no
one in his senses could blame me for this, that the majority of opinions and
votes does always prevail; (2.105) but when he changes to a better course of
life, and no longer dreams, and no longer worries himself by entangling himself
in the vain imaginations of the slaves of vain opinion, and when he no longer
dreams about night, and darkness, and the changes of uncertain matters which
cannot be guessed at; (2.106) he, then, having awakened from deep sleep,
continues awake and receives certainty instead of indistinctness, and truth
instead of false conceptions, and day instead of night, and light instead of
darkness, and rejects an Egyptian wife, that is to say, the pleasure of the
body, when she invites him to come in to her, and to enjoy her conversation, out
of an indescribable love of continence and admiration for piety, (2.107) and
asserts his right to a share in those kindred and inherited blessings from which
he appeared to be alienated, again desiring to recover that portion of virtue
which properly belongs to him. For proceeding by small and gradual improvements,
as if he were now established on the summit and perfection of his own life, he
cries out, what indeed he knows to a certainty from what has happened to him,
that he "belongs to God,"{81}{Genesis 50:19.} and that he belongs no
more to any object of external sense which can affect any creature; (2.108) and
then his brethren will come to a permanent reconciliation with him, changing
their hatred into friendship, and their malignity into good will. But I who am
the follower of these men, for I have learnt to obey them as a servant obeys his
master, will never cease to praise him for his change of mind. (2.109) Since
Moses, also, that priest of sacred things, preserves his change of mind as what
is worthy of love and of being preserved in men's recollection, from being
forgotten, by the symbol of the Bones{82}{Exodus 13:19.} which he did not think
proper to have buried in Egypt for ever, looking upon it as a hard thing, if the
soul put forth any beautiful flower to suffer that to wither away, and to be
overwhelmed and destroyed by the torrents which the Egyptian river of the
passions, namely the body, which is incessantly flowing through all the outward
senses, sends forth.

XVI.
(2.110) The vision, therefore, which appeared proceeding from the earth, with
reference to the sheaves and the interpretation thereof, has now been
sufficiently discussed. It is time now to consider the other vision; and to
examine how that is interpreted by the art of the explanation of dreams. (2.111)
"He saw then," says the scripture, "a second dream, and he
related it to his father, and to his brethren, and he said, I saw that the sun,
and the moon, and the eleven stars worshipped me. And his father rebuked him,
and said, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I, and thy mother,
and thy brethren, come forward and advance, and fall down to the earth and
worship thee? And his brethren were jealous of him; but his father regarded his
Words."{83}{Genesis 37:9.} (2.112) The studiers of sublime wisdom now say
that the zodiac, the greatest of all circles in heaven, is studded with twelve
animals (zoÁdia), from which it has derived its name. And that the sun and the
moon are always revolving around it, and go through each of the animals, not
indeed with equal rapidity, but in unequal numbers and periods; the one doing so
in thirty days, and the other in as near as may be a twelfth part of that time,
that is in two days and a half; (2.113) therefore, he who saw this heaven-sent
vision, thought that he was being worshipped by eleven stars, ranking himself
among them as the twelfth, so as to complete the whole circle of the zodiac.
(2.114) And I recollect having before now heard some man who had applied himself
to learning in no careless or indolent spirit, say that men were not the only
beings which went mad with vain opinions, but that the stars did so too. And
they also, said he, contend with one another for precedence, and those which are
the greater claim to be attended by the lesser stars as their guards; (2.115)
these matters, however, we may leave for the studiers of sublime subjects to
investigate, and to settle how much truth and how much random assertion there is
in them. But we say, that the lover of indiscriminate study, and unreasonable
contention, and vain opinion, being always puffed up by folly, wishes to assert
a precedence, not only over men, but also above the nature of all existing
things; (2.116) and he thinks that all things were created for his sake, and
that it is necessary that everything, whether earth or heaven, or water or air,
should bring him tribute; and he has gone to such an extravagant pitch of folly,
that he is not able to reason upon such matters as even a young child might
understand, and to see that no artist ever makes the whole for the sake of the
part, but rather makes the part for the sake of the whole. Now the part of the
whole is the man, so that he is properly asserted to have been made for the sake
of perfecting the world in which he is rightly classed.

XVII.
(2.117) But some persons are full of such exceeding folly, that they are
indignant if the whole world does not follow their intentions: for this reason
Xerxes, the king of Persia, being desirous to strike terror into his enemies,
made a display of very mighty undertakings, altering the whole face of nature;
(2.118) for he changed the nature of the elements of the earth and of the sea,
giving land to the sea and sea to the land, by joining the Hellespont with a
bridge, and breaking up Mount Athos into deep gulfs, which, being filled with
sea, became so many new and artificially-cut seas, being entirely changed from
the ancient course of nature. (2.119) And having worked wonders with respect to
the earth, according to his wishes, he mounted up upon daring conceptions, like
a miserable man as he was, contracting the guilt of impiety, and seeking to soar
up to heaven, as if he would move what cannot be moved, and would subjugate the
host of heaven, and, as the proverb has it, he began with a sacred thing.
(2.120) For he aimed his arrows at the most excellent of the heavenly bodies,
the sun, the ruler of the day, as if he had not himself been wounded by the
invisible dart of insanity, not only because of his desiring things which were
impossible, but such as were also most impious, either of which is a great
disgrace to him who attempts them. (2.121) It is related, also, that the very
populous nation of the Germans, and theirs is a country where the sea is subject
to the ebb and flow of the tide, ran down to the reflux which occurs in their
country with great impetuosity, and drawing their naked swords charged and
encountered the billowy sea as if it were a phalanx of enemies: (2.122) and
these men deserve to be hated because they dare impiously to take up the arms of
enemies against the free and invincible parts of nature; but they deserve also
to be ridiculed for attempting what is impossible, as if they thought it
practicable to wound the water as though it were a living animal, or to stab it
and kill it. And again, one should grieve at the sight of such men, and fear,
and flee out of fear at their attacks, and submit to all the affections of the
soul which are conversant with pleasures and pains.

XVIII.
(2.123) Moreover, it is only a very short time ago that I knew a man of very
high rank, one who was prefect and governor of Egypt, who, after he had taken it
into his head to change our national institutions and customs, and in an
extraordinary manner to abrogate that most holy law guarded by such fearful
penalties, which relates to the seventh day, and was compelling us to obey him,
and to do other things contrary to our established custom, thinking that that
would be the beginning of our departure from the other laws, and of our
violation of all our national customs, if he were once able to destroy our
hereditary and customary observance of the seventh day. (2.124) And as he saw
that those to whom he offered violence did not yield to his injunctions, and
that the rest of our people was not disposed to submit in tranquility, but was
indignant and furious at the business, and was mourning and dispirited as if at
the enslaving, and overthrow, and utter destruction of their country; he thought
fit to endeavor by a speech to persuade them to transgress, saying: (2.125)
"If an invasion of enemies were to come upon you on a sudden, or the
violence of a deluge, from the river having broken down all its barriers by an
inundation, or any terrible fire, or a thunderbolt, or famine, or pestilence, or
an earthquake, or any other evil, whether caused by men or inflicted by God,
would you still remain quiet and unmoved at home? (2.126) And would you still go
on in your habitual fashion, keeping your right hand back, and holding the other
under your garments close to your sides, in order that you might not, even
without meaning it, do anything to contribute to your own preservation? (2.127)
And would you still sit down in your synagogues, collecting your ordinary
assemblies, and reading your sacred volumes in security, and explaining whatever
is not quite clear, and devoting all your time and leisure with long discussions
to the philosophy of your ancestors? (2.128) Nay: rather shaking off all these
ideas, you would gird yourselves up for the preservation of yourselves, and of
your parents, and of your children, and, if one must tell the plain truth, of
your possessions and treasures, to save them from being utterly destroyed.
(2.129) And, indeed, I myself, am," said he, "all the evils which I
have just enumerated: I am a whirlwind, I am war, and deluge, and thunderbolt,
and the calamity of famine, and the misery of pestilence, and an earthquake
which shakes and overthrows what stood firm before, not being merely the name of
a necessity of fate, but actual, visible power, standing close to you."
(2.130) What then can we say that a man who says, or who merely thinks such
things as these, is? Is he not an evil of an extraordinary nature? He surely
must be some foreign calamity, brought from over the sea, or from some other
world, since he, a man in every respect miserable, has dared to compare himself
to the all-blessed God. (2.131) We must likewise add, that he is daring here to
utter blasphemies against the sun, and the moon, and the rest of the stars,
whenever anything which had been looked for according to the seasons of the
year, either does not happen at all, or is brought about with difficulty; if,
for instance, the summer causes too much heat, or the winter too excessive a
cold, or if the spring or autumn were unseasonable, so that the one were to
become barren and unfruitful, and the other to be prolific only in diseases.
(2.132) Therefore, giving all imaginable license to an unbridled mouth and
abusive tongue, such a man will reproach the stars as not bringing their
customary tribute, all but claiming for the things of earth the reverence and
adoration of the heavenly bodies, and for himself above them all, in proportion
as he, as being a man, looks upon himself as superior to the other animals.

XIX.
(2.133) Such men then are classed by us as the very teachers of vain opinion.
Let us now in turn look at their followers by themselves. These men are always
laying plots against the practicers of virtue, and when they see them laboring
to make their own life pure with guileless truth, and to exhibit it, as one may
say, to the light of the moon, or of the sun, as able to stand inspection, they
endeavor by deceit, or even by open violence, to hinder them, trying to drive
them into the sunless country of impious men, which is occupied by deep night,
and endless darkness, and ten thousand tribes of images, and appearances, and
dreams, and then, having thrust them down thither, they compel them to fall down
and worship them as masters. (2.134) For we look upon the practicer of virtue as
the sun, since the one gives light to our bodies, and the other to the things
which belong to the soul: and the education which such a man uses we look upon
as the moon, for the use of each is most pure and most useful in the night; and
the brethren are those virtuous reasonings which are the offspring of
instruction, and of a soul devoted to the practice of virtue, all of which make
straight the right path of life, and which they, therefore, by all kinds of wary
and cunning wrestlings, seek to overcome, and to trip up, and overthrow, and
break the neck of, because they have determined neither to think nor to say
anything sound themselves. (2.135) For this reason his father rebukes this
intractable youth (I do not mean Jacob, but right reason, which is older even
than he), saying, (2.136) "What is this dream which thou hast dreamt?"
but thou hast not seen any dream at all; hast thou fancied that things which are
free by nature are to be of necessity slaves to human things, and that things
which are rulers are to become subjects? and, what is more paradoxical still,
subject, not to anything else but to the very things which they govern? and to
be the slaves of no other things except those very things which are their own
slaves? unless indeed a change of all the established things to their direct
contraries is to take place, by the power of God, who is able to effect all
things, and to move what is immovable, and to fix what is in a constant state of
agitation. (2.137) Since on what principle can you be angry with or reproach a
man who sees a vision in his sleep? For he will say, I did not see it
intentionally, why do you bring accusations against me, for errors which I have
not committed from any deliberate purpose? I have related to you what fell upon
me and made an impression on my mind suddenly, and without my desiring it.
(2.138) But the present question is not about dreams, but about things which
resemble dreams; which, to those whose minds are not highly purified appear
great, and beautiful, and desirable things; while they are, in reality,
trifling, and obscure, and deserving of ridicule, in the eyes of honest judges
of the truth.

XX.
(2.139) Shall I then, says he, I, that is to say, right reason, come to you? And
shall the soul, which is both the mother and nurse of the company devoted to
learning virtuous instruction, also come to thee? (2.140) And are the offspring
of us too to come likewise? And are we all to stand in a row, laying aside all
our former dignity, and holding up our hands and praying to thee? And are we
then to prostrate ourselves on the ground, and endeavor to propitiate and adore
thee? But may the sun never shine upon such transactions, since deep darkness is
suited to evil deeds, and brilliant light to good deeds. And what could be a
greater evil than for pride, that deceiver and beguiler, to be praised and
admired, instead of sincere and honest simplicity? (2.141) And it is with great
propriety that the statement is added, "And his father took notice of his
words." For it is the occupation of a soul which is not young, nor barren,
nor wholly unfruitful, but rather of one which is really older and able to beget
offspring, to cohabit with prudent caution, and to despise and overlook nothing
whatever, but to have a reverential fear of the power of God, from which we
cannot escape, and which we cannot overcome; and to look all around to see what
its very end shall be. (2.142) For this reason they say, that the sister of
Moses also (and she is called Hope by us, when speaking in a figurative manner)
was contemplated at a distance by the sacred scriptures, inasmuch as she kept
her eyes fixed on the end of life, hoping that some good fortune might befall
her, sent by the Giver of all good from above, from heaven; (2.143) for it has
often happened that many persons, after having taken long voyages, and having
sailed over a great expanse of sea with a fair wind, and without any danger,
have suddenly been shipwrecked in the harbor itself, when they have been on the
very point of casting anchor; (2.144) and many persons too, who have
successfully come to the end of formidable wars of long duration, and have come
off unwounded so as never to have received even a scratch on the surface of the
skin, but to have escaped whole and entire as if they had only been at some
popular assembly or national festival, having returned home with joy and
cheerfulness, have been plotted against in their houses by those who, of all the
world, least ought to have done so; being, as the proverb says, like oxen slain
in their stall.

XXI.
(2.145) As these unexpected events, which no one could ever have anticipated, do
frequently happen in this manner and overthrow people, so also do they often
drive the powers of the soul in a contrary direction to the proper one, and drag
it in an opposite way, according to their power, and compel it to change its
course: for what man, who has ever descended into the arena of life, has come
off without a fall? (2.146) And who is there who has never been tripped up in
that contest? He is happy who has not often been so. And for whom has not
fortune laid snares, blowing upon him at intervals, and collecting its strength,
that it may twine itself around him, and speedily carry him off before its
adversary is ready for the contest? (2.147) Do we not know, that some persons
have come from infancy to old age who have never been sensible of any
irregularity, whether it be from the happy condition of their nature, or from
the care of those who brought them up and educated them, or owing to both
circumstances? But then, being filled with profound peace in themselves, which
is real peace, and the archetypal model of that which exists in cities, and
being considered happy on that account, because they have never had a notion,
not even in a dream, of the intestine war which arises from the violence of the
passions, and which is the most piteous of all wars, have at last, at the very
close of their lives, run on shore and made shipwreck, either through some
intemperance of language or some insatiable gluttony, or some incontinent
licentiousness of the parts below the belly. (2.148) For some, while--

"Still
on the threshold of extreme old age,"

have
admired the youthful, unhonored, detestable, and disgraceful life of debauches;
and others have given in to the cunning, and wicked, and calumnious, and
desperate way of life of others, pursuing the first fruits of quarrelsome
curiosity, when they ought rather to have discarded such habits now, even if
they had been familiar to them. (2.149) For which reason one ought to propitiate
God, and to supplicate him perseveringly, that he will not pass by our miserable
race, but that he will allow his saving mercy to be everlastingly shown towards
us; for it is difficult for those who have tasted unalloyed peace to be
prevented from glutting themselves with it.

XXII.
(2.150) But, come now, this hunger is lighter evil than thirst, inasmuch as it
has love and desire for its comforters; but when, through the desire of
drinking, it is necessary to satisfy one's self with that other fountain, the
water of which is dirty and unwholesome, then it is indispensable for the
drinkers, being filled with a bitter-sweet pleasure, to live an unenviable life,
betaking themselves to pernicious things as though they were advantageous, from
ignorance of what is really desirable. (2.151) But the impetuous course of these
evils is most grievous when the irrational powers of the soul attack the powers
of the reason and get the better of them; (2.152) for as long as the herds of
oxen obey their drivers, and the flocks obey their shepherds, and the goats obey
the goatherds, the herds and all belonging to them go on well; but when the
herdsmen who are appointed to look after the cattle become weaker than the
beasts committed to their care, then everything goes wrong, and instead of
regularity there arises irregularity, and disorder in the place of order, and
confusion instead of steadiness, and disturbance in the place of good
arrangement, since there is no longer any lawful superintending power properly
established; for if there had been such a thing, it would have been destroyed
before this time. (2.153) What then? Do we not think that even in ourselves
there is a herd of irrational cattle, inasmuch as the irrational multitude of
the soul is deprived of reason, and that the shepherd is the governing mind? But
as long as that is vigorous and competent to act as the manager of the herd,
everything goes on in a just, and prosperous, and advantageous manner; (2.154)
but when any weakness or want of power supervenes to the king, then it follows
of necessity that the subjects also labor with a like infirmity; and when they
most completely seem to be in enjoyment of liberty, then they are a prize, lying
most entirely ready for any one who pleases to contend for it to seize; for the
natural course is for anarchy to be treacherous, and for government to be
salutary, especially in a state where law and justice are honored. And this is
such a state as is consistent with reason.

XXIII.
(2.155) We have now, then, spoken with sufficient accuracy about the dreams of
vain opinion. Now, the different species of gluttony are conversant about
drinking and eating. But the one has no need of any great variety, while the
other requires a countless number of seasonings and sauces. These things, then,
are referred to two managers. The matters relating to excessive drinking are
referred to the chief butler, and those which belong to luxurious eating to the
chief baker. (2.156) Now these men are, with excessive propriety, recorded to
have seen visions of dreams one night; for they, each of them, labor to gratify
the same need of their master, providing not simple food, but such as is
accompanied with pleasure and extraordinary gratification; and each of them,
separately, labors about half the food, but the two together are employed about
the whole, and the one part draws on the other; (2.157) for men, when they have
eaten, immediately desire drink; and men who have drunk immediately wish to eat;
so that it is in no slight degree on this account that a vision is ascribed to
them both at the same time. (2.158) Therefore the chief butler has the office of
ministering to the appetite for wine, and the chief baker to the voracity. And
each of them sees in his vision what relates to his own business: the one sees
wine and the plant which engenders wine, namely the vine; the other sees white
bread lying on dishes, and himself serving up the Dishes.{84}{Genesis 40:16.}
(2.159) Now perhaps it may be proper first of all to examine the first dream.
And it is as follows:--"In my sleep there was a vine before me; and on the
vine were three branches, and it flourished and brought forth shoots, and there
were on it ripe bunches of grapes. And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand, and I took
the bunch of grapes and pressed it into the cup, and I gave the cup into
Pharaoh's Hand."{85}{Genesis 40:9.} (2.160) He speaks here in an admirable
manner, and the expression, "in my sleep," is quite correct. For, in
real truth, he who follows not so much the inebriety which arises from wine as
that which proceeds from folly, being indignant at an upright and wakeful
position, like people asleep, is thrown down and relaxed, and shuts the eyes of
his soul, not being able either to see or to hear anything which is worthy of
being seen or of being heard. (2.161) And being overthrown, he goes on a blind
and guideless (I will not say path, but pathless) way through life, being
pricked with thorns and briars; and sometimes too he falls down steep places,
and tumbles down upon other people, so as to hurt both them and himself in a
pitiable manner. (2.162) But the deep and long-enduring sleep in which every
wicked man is held, removes all true conceptions, and fills the mind with all
kinds of false images, and unsubstantial visions, persuading it to embrace what
is shameful as praiseworthy. For at one time it dreams of grief as joy, and does
not perceive that it is looking at the vine, the plant of folly and error.
(2.163) "For," says the chief butler, "the vine was before
me," the desired object was before him who desired it, wickedness was
before the wicked man: which we, foolish men that we are, cultivate, without
being aware that we are doing so to our own injury, the fruit of which we eat
and drink, classing it under both species of food, which, as it would seem, we
appropriate, not for one half the evils that affect us for the whole of our
complete and entire misfortunes.

XXIV.
(2.164) But it is desirable not to be ignorant that the intoxication which
proceeds from the vine does not affect all who indulge in it in a similar
manner, but very often affects different people in contrary ways, so that it
makes some better and others worse than they are naturally. (2.165) For in the
case of some men, it relaxes the sternness and moroseness of their character,
and relieves them of their cares, and assuages their anger and their sorrow, and
brings their dispositions into a milder mood, and makes their souls placable.
But of others again, it cherishes the angry passions, and binds their pain
firmly, and excites their feelings of love, and stimulates their rudeness;
rendering the mouth talkative, their tongue unbridled, emancipating their
external senses from all restraint, rendering their passions furious, and their
whole mind violent and excited towards every object. (2.166) So that the
condition of the men firstmentioned appears to resemble an untroubled calm in
fine weather, or a waveless tranquility at sea, or a most peaceful and steady
state of affairs in a city. But the condition of those whom I have last
described, is more like a violent and unremitting gale, or a sea tossed by a
storm into vast billows, or a sedition, an evil more fearful than even
interminable and irreconcileable war. (2.167) Therefore, of these two banquet
parties, the one is filled with laughter, with men promising amusement, and
hoping for good fortune, and enjoying cheerfulness, and pleasant language, and
mirth, and joy, and freedom from anxiety; (2.168) but the other is full of
melancholy, and seriousness, and downcast looks, and offences, and reproaches,
and wounds; of men gnashing their teeth, looking fiercely at one another,
barking, strangling one another, contending with one another in every
conceivable way, mutilating one another's ears and noses, and whatever parts of
the body they can reach, displaying the intoxication of their whole life and
their drunkenness in this unholy contest, with every kind of unseemly behaviour.

XXV.
(2.169) It would therefore be naturally consistent to consider next that the
vine is the symbol of two things: of folly, and of mirth. And each of these two,
though it is indicated by many circumstances, we will explain in a few words, to
avoid prolixity. (2.170) When any one leading us along the road, deserted by the
passions and by acts of wickedness, the rod, that is, of philosophy, has led
right reason to a height, and placed it like a scout upon a watch-tower,
{86}{Numbers 13:18.} and has commanded it to look around, and to survey the
whole country of virtue, and to see whether it be blessed with a deep soil, and
rich, and productive of herbage and of fruit, since deep soil is good to cause
the learning which has been sown in it to increase, and to make the doctrines
which have been planted in it, and which have grown to trees, to form solid
trunks, or whether it be of a contrary character; and also to examine into
actions, as one might into cities, and see whether they are strongly fortified,
or whether they are defenceless and deprived of all the security which might be
afforded by walls around them. Also to inquire into the condition of the
inhabitants, whether they are considerable in numbers and in valour, or whether
their courage is weak and their numbers scanty, the two causes acting
reciprocally on one another. (2.171) Then because we were not able to bear the
weight of the whole trunk of wisdom, we cut off one branch and one bunch of
grapes, and carried it with us as a most undeniable proof of our joy, and a
burden very easy to be borne, wishing to display at the same time the branch and
the fruit of excellence to those who are gifted with acuteness of mental sight,
to show them, that is, the strongly-shooting and grapebearing vine.

XXVI.
(2.172) They then very fairly compare this vine of which we were only able to
take a part, to happiness. And one of the ancient prophets bears his testimony
in favor of my view of the matter, who speaking under divine inspiration has
said, "The vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the house of
Israel
."{87}{Isaiah 5:7.} (2.173) Now Israel is the mind inclined to the
contemplation of God and of the world; for the name Israel is interpreted,
"seeing God," and the abode of the mind is the whole soul; and this is
the most sacred vineyard, bearing as its fruit the divine shoot, virtue: (2.174)
thus thinking well (to eu phronein) is the derivation of the word joy (euphrosyneÁ),
being a great and brilliant thing so that, says Moses, even God himself does not
disdain to exhibit it; and most especially at that time when the human race is
departing from its sins, and inclining and bending its steps towards justice,
following of its own accord the laws and institutions of nature. (2.175)
"For," says Moses, "the Lord thy God will return, that he may
rejoice in thee for thy good as he rejoiced in thy fathers, if thou wilt hear
his voice to keep all his commandments and his ordinances and his judgments
which are written in the book of this Law."{88}{Deuteronomy 30:9.} (2.176)
Who could implant in man a desire for virtue and excellence, more strongly than
is here done? Dost thou wish, says the scripture, O mind, that God should
rejoice? Do thou rejoice in virtue thyself, and bring no costly offering, (for
what need has God of anything of thine?) But, on the other hand, receive with
joy all the good things which he bestows upon thee; (2.177) for he rejoices in
giving, when they who receive are worthy of his grace; unless you think that
those men who live blameably may be justly said to make God indignant and to
excite his anger, but that those who live in a praiseworthy manner do not make
him rejoice. (2.178) But there is nothing which gives so much pleasure to
fathers and mothers, our mortal parents, as the virtues of their children, even
though they may be in want of numbers of necessary things; And does not the
excellence of these aforesaid persons in like manner rejoice the Creator of the
universe, who is in no want of anything whatever? (2.179) Do thou therefore, O
mind, having learnt how mighty a thing the anger of God is, and how great a good
the joy of God is, do not do anything worthy to excite his anger to thy own
destruction, but study only such things as may be the means of your pleasing
God. (2.180) And you will find these actions not to be the making of long and
unusual journeys, nor the passing over unnavigable seas, or wandering without
stopping to take breath to the furthest boundaries of earth and sea: for good
actions do not dwell at a distance and have not been banished beyond the
confines of the habitable world, but, as Moses says, good is situated near you,
and is planted along with you, being united to you in three necessary parts, in
the heart, in the mouth, and in the hands: that is to say, in the mind, in the
speech, and in the actions; since it is necessary to think and to say, and to do
good things, which are made perfect by a union of good design, good execution,
and good language.

XXVII.
(2.181) I say therefore to him whose occupation is to gratify one description of
gluttony, the fondness for drinking, namely to the chief butler, "Why are
you laboring hard, O unhappy man? For you think that you are preparing pleasant
things to give delight, but in reality you are kindling a flame of folly and
intemperance, and contributing great and abundant quantities of fuel to
it." (2.182) But perhaps he may reply, do not blame me precipitately before
you have considered my case; I was appointed to pour out wine, not indeed for a
man who was endowed with temperance, and piety, and all the other virtues, but
for a violent, and intemperate, and unjust master, one who was very proud in his
impiety, and who dared once to say, "I do not know the
Lord;"{89}{Exodus 5:2.} so that I very naturally studied what would afford
him gratification: (2.183) and do not wonder that God is delighted with one
thing, and the mind which is hostile to God, namely Pharaoh, with the contrary.
Who then is the chief butler of God? The priest who offers libations to him, the
truly great high priest, who, having received a draught of everlasting graces,
offers himself in return, pouring in an entire libation full of unmixed wine.
You see that there are differences between butlers in proportion to the
differences existing between those whom they are waiting on; (2.184) on this
account I, the butler of Pharaoh, who exerts his stiff-necked, and in all
respects intemperate reason, in the direction of indulgences of his passions, am
a eunuch, having had all the generative parts of my soul removed, and being
compelled to migrate from the apartments of the men, and am a fugitive also from
the women's chambers, inasmuch as I am neither male nor female; nor am I able to
disseminate seed nor to receive it, being of an ambiguous nature, neither one
thing nor the other; a mere false coin of human money, destitute of immortality,
which is from time to time kept alive by the constant succession of children and
offspring: being also excluded from the assembly and sacred meeting of the
people, for it is expressly forbidden that any one who has suffered any injury
or mutilation such as I have should enter in Thereto.{90}{Deuteronomy 23:1.}

XXVIII.
(2.185) But the high priest of whom we are speaking is a perfect man, the
husband of a virgin (a most extraordinary statement), who has never been made a
woman; but who on the contrary, has ceased to be influenced by the customs of
women in regard to her connection with her Husband.{91}{Genesis 18:11.} And not
only is this man competent to sow the seeds of unpolluted and virgin opinions,
but he is also the father of sacred reasonings, (2.186) some of which are
overseers and superintendents of the affairs of nature, such as Eleazar and
Ithamar; others are ministers of the worship of God, earnestly occupied in
kindling and burning up the flame of heaven; for, as they are always uttering
discourses relating to holiness, they cause it to shine, bringing forth the most
divine kind of piety like fire from a flint; (2.187) and the being who is at the
same time the guide and father of those men is no insignificant part of the
sacred assembly, but he is rather the person without whom the duly convened
assembly of the parts of the soul could never be collected together at all; he
is the president, the chairman, the creator of it, who, without the aid of any
other being, is able by himself alone to consider and to do everything. (2.188)
He, when taken in conjunction with others, is insignificant in point of number,
but when he is looked at by himself he becomes numerous; he is a tribunal, an
entire council, the whole people, a complete multitude, the entire race of
mankind, or rather, if one is to speak the real truth, he is a sort of nature
bordering on God, inferior indeed to him, but superior to man; (2.189) "for
when," the scripture say, "the high priest goes into the Holy of
Holies he will not be a Man."{92}{Leviticus 16:17.} What then will he be if
he is not a man? Will he be a God? I would not venture to say that (for the
chief prophet, Moses, did receive the inheritance of this name while he was
still in
Egypt
, being called "the god of Pharaoh;"){93}{Exodus 7:1.} nor again is he
man, but he touches both these extremities as if he touched both the feet and
the head.

XXIX.
(2.190) So now one kind of vine, which has been assigned as the portion of
cheerfulness, and the intoxication which arises from it, namely unmingled
goodness of counsel, and the cup-bearer too who drew the wine from the divine
goblet, which God himself has filled with virtues up to the lip, has been
explained; (2.191) but the other kind, that of folly, and grief, and
drunkenness, is also already depicted in a fashion but in another character, by
other expressions which are used in the greater canticle; "for," says
the scripture, "their vine is of the vine of Sodom and their tendrils are
of the vine of Gomorrah; their grapes are the grapes of gall; their bunches are
full of bitterness itself. Their wine is the madness of dragons and the
incurable fury of Asps."{94}{Deuteronomy 32:32.} (2.192) You see here what
great effects are produced by the drunkenness of folly: bitterness, an evil
disposition, exceeding gall, excessive anger, implacability, a biting and
treacherous disposition. The lawgiver most emphatically asserts the branch of
the vine of folly to be in Sodom; and the name Sodom, being interpreted, means
"blindness," or "barrenness;" since folly is a thing which
is blind, and also barren of all good things; though, nevertheless, some people
have been so greatly influenced by it as to measure, and weigh, and count
everything with reference to themselves alone. (2.193)
Gomorrah
, being interpreted, means "measure;" but Moses conceived that God was
the standard of weight, and measure, and number, in the universe, but he had not
the same opinion of the human mind. And he shows this in the following passage,
where he says, "There shall not be in thy sack one weight, and another
weight, a great and a small; there shall not be in thy house one measure, and
another measure, a great and a small; (2.194) thy weight shall be a true and
just one." But a true and just measure is, to conceive that it is the only
just God alone who measures and weighs everything, and who has circumscribed the
nature of the universe with numbers, and limitations, and boundaries. But it is
unjust and false to imagine that these things are regulated in accordance with
the human mind. (2.195) But the eunuch and chief butler of Pharaoh, having
beheld the plant generative of folly, namely, the vine, adds besides to his
delineation there stocks, that he may signify the three extremities of error
according to the three different times; for a root is equivalent to extremity.

XXX.
(2.196) When, therefore, folly has overshadowed and occupied the whole soul, and
when it has left no portion of it unoccupied or free, it not only compels it to
commit such errors as are remediable, but such also as are irremediable. (2.197)
Now those which admit of a remedy are set down as the easiest and the first; but
those which are irremediable are altogether terrible, and are the last of all,
being so far analogous to roots. (2.198) And as, in my notions, wisdom begins to
benefit a man in small matters, and ends at last in the absolute perfection of
all well-doing, so, in the same manner folly, constraining the soul from above
and leading it away from instruction by small degrees, establishes it at last at
a long distance from right reason, and finally leads it to the extreme point,
and utterly overthrows it. (2.199) And the dream showed that after the roots
appeared the vine flourished and put forth shoots and bore fruit; for, says the
chief butler, "It was flourishing and bearing shoots, around which were
bunches of Grapes."{95}{Genesis 40:10.} The foolish man is accustomed to
display barrenness, and never to put forth even leaves, and, in fact, to be
withered all his life; (2.200) for what could be a greater evil than folly
flourishing and bearing fruit? But, says he, "the cup of Pharaoh," the
vessel which is the receptacle of folly and drunkenness, and of the ceaseless
intoxication of life, "is in my hand;" an expression equivalent to
saying, depends upon my administration, and endeavors, and powers; for without
my contrivances, the passion will not proceed rightly by its own efforts;
(2.201) for as it is proper that the reins should be in the hands of the
charioteer, and the rudder in the hands of the pilot--for this is the only way
in which the course of the chariot and the voyage of the vessel can proceed
successfully--so, also, the filling of the goblet with wine is in the hands and
depends upon the power of him who by his art brings to perfection one of the two
kinds of gluttony, namely, satiety of wine. (2.202) But why has he endured to
boast in respect of a matter which deserved rather to be denied than to be
confessed? Would it not have been better not to have confessed at all that he
was a teacher of intemperance, and not to admit that he increased the excitement
of the passions by wine in the case of the intemperate man, as being an inventor
and producer of a luxurious, and debauched, and most disgraceful way of life.
(2.203) Such, however, is the case. Folly boasts of those things which ought to
be concealed; and in this present case it prides itself, not only on holding in
its hands the receptacle of the intemperate soul, that is to say, the cup of
wine, and in showing it to all men, but also in pressing out the grapes into it;
that is to say, in making that which satisfies the passion, and bringing what is
concealed to light. (2.204) For as children which require food, when they are
about to receive the milk, squeeze and press out the breast of the nurse that
feeds them, so likewise does the workman and cause of intemperance vigorously
press the fountain from which the evil of abundance of wine pours forth, that he
may derive food in a most agreeable manner from the drops which are squeezed
out.

XXXI.
(2.205) Such a description then as I have here given may be applied to the man
who is made frantic by the influence of unmixed wines, that he is a drunken, and
foolish, and irremediable evil. We must now, in turn, investigate the character
of the glutton, who is akin to the drunkard, and who is a sworn companion of all
kinds of voracity and greediness, laboring, without any restraint, at the
artificial gratification of his appetite. (2.206) And yet it does not require a
great deal of care to arrive at his true character; for the dream which was seen
is a representation of his likeness very closely resembling him; and when we
have accurately examined him, let us look upon him as we would upon a
representation in a mirror; (2.207) for "I thought," said the chief
cook, "that I had three baskets of fine wheaten loaves upon my head."
Now, using the word "head" in an allegorical manner, we mean by it the
dominant part of the soul, that is, the mind, and we say that everything rests
or depends upon that; for he once exclaimed concerning it, "All these
things were in my charge." (2.208) Therefore when he had completed the
preparation of these things which he had devised against the miserable belly, he
displayed himself also, and, like a foolish man as he was, he was not ashamed to
be weighed down with so great a burden, namely, the weight of three baskets;
that is to say, with three portions of time. (2.209) For those who advocate the
cause of pleasure affirm that it consists of three times, of the memory of past
delights, and of the enjoyment of those that are present, and of the hope of
what are to come; (2.210) so that the three baskets are likened unto the three
portions of time, and the cakes upon the baskets to those circumstances which
are suitable to each of the portions; to the recollection of past joys, to the
enjoyment of present pleasures, to the hope of future delights. And he who
carries all these things is likened unto the lover of pleasure, who has filled
his faithless table, a table destitute of all hospitable and friendly salt, not
with one kind of luxury only, but with almost every description and species of
intemperance; (2.211) and this is enjoyed by king Pharaoh alone, as if he were
sitting at a public banquet, and devoting himself to a dispersion, and
scattering, and defeat, and destruction of temperance; for the name Pharaoh,
being interpreted, means "dispersion." And it is magnificent and royal
piece of conduct in him not to exult in the specious advantages of wisdom, but
to pride himself on those pursuits of profligacy which it is unseemly to
mention, wrecking himself on insatiable appetite and gluttony, and effeminacy of
life. (2.212) Therefore the birds, that is to say, the chances which never could
have been anticipated by conjecture, coming from outward quarters and hovering
around him, will attack and kindle every thing like fire, and will destroy every
thing with their all-devouring power, so that there is not a single fragment
left to the bearer of the baskets for his enjoyment though he had hoped to
proceed with his inventions and contrivances, for ever and ever carrying them on
in a safe place, so that they could never be taken from him. (2.213) And thanks
be to God who giveth the victory and who renders the labors of the man who is a
slave to his passions, though ever so carefully carried out, still unproductive
and useless, sending down winged natures in an invisible manner for their
destruction and overthrow. Therefore, the mind, being deprived of those things
which it had made for itself, having, as it were, its neck cut through, will be
found headless and lifeless, and like those who are fixed to a cross, nailed as
it were to the tree of hopeless and helpless ignorance. (2.214) For as long as
none of these things come upon one which arrive suddenly and unexpectedly, then
those acts which are directed to the enjoyment of pleasure appear to be
successful; but when such evils descend upon them unexpectedly, they are
overthrown, and their maker is destroyed with them.

XXXII.
(2.215) The dreams, therefore, of those men who divide those things which
produce the taste according to every species of food, whether it be meat or
drink, and such as is not necessary but superfluous, and sought only by the
intemperate, have been sufficiently explained. But those of Pharaoh, who appears
to exercise sovereignty over these men and over all the powers of the soul, must
now be investigated if we would proceed in order and consistently with our plan.
(2.216) Pharaoh says, "In my dream I thought that I was standing by the
bank of a river, and seven oxen came up as it were out of the river, of eminent
plumpness in their flesh, and beautiful to the view, and fed in the green marsh;
and behold, seven other oxen came up out of the river after them, evil to look
at and ill-favored, and lean in their flesh, such that I never saw any leaner in
all Egypt; (2.217) and the lean and ill-favored oxen devoured the seven former
oxen which were beautiful, and picked out, and they entered into their stomachs,
and still their appearance remained illfavored, as I have described it at first.
(2.218) And when I had awoke I fell asleep again; and again I saw in my dream,
and as it were seven ears of corn grew up on one stalk, full and beautiful. And
seven other ears of corn also came up, lean and wind-beaten, close to them, and
these last seven ears did swallow up the seven beautiful and full
Ears."{96}{Genesis 41:17.} (2.219) You see now the preface of the lover of
self who being easily moved, and changeable, and fickle, both in his body and
soul, says, "I thought that I was standing," and did not consider that
unchangeableness and steadiness belong to God alone, and to him who is dear to
God. (2.220) And the most evident proof of the unchangeable power which exists
in him is this world, which is always in the same place and in the same
condition. And if the world is immovable how can the Creator of it be any thing
but firm? In the second place the sacred scriptures are likewise most infallible
witnesses; (2.221) for it is said in them, where the words are put into the
mouth of God, "I stand here and there, before you were dwelling upon the
rock, {97}{Exodus 17:6.} which is an expression equivalent to, Thus am I who am
visible to you, and am here: and I am there and everywhere, filling all places,
standing and abiding in the same condition, being unchangeable, before you or
any one of the objects of creation had any existence, being beheld upon the
highest and most ancient authority of power, from which the creation of all
existing things was shed forth, and the stream of wisdom flowed; (2.222)
"for I am he who brought the stream of water out of the solid
Rock,"{98}{Deuteronomy 8:15.} is said in another place. And Moses also
bears witness to the immutability of the Deity, where he says, "I saw the
place where the God of Israel Stood;"{99}{Exodus 24:10.} intimating
enigmatically that he is not given to change by speaking here of his standing,
and of his being firmly established.

XXXIII.
(2.223) But there is in the Deity such an excessive degree of stability and
firmness, that he gave even to the most excellent natures a share of his
durability as his most excellent possession: and presently afterwards he, the
most ancient author of all things, namely God, says that he is about to erect
firmly his covenant full of grace (and that means his law and his word) in the
soul of the just man as on a solid foundation, which shall be an image in the
likeness of God, when he says to Noah, "I will establish my covenant with
Thee."{100}{Genesis 9:10.} (2.224) And besides this, he also indicates two
other things, one that justice is in no respect different from the covenant of
God, the other that other beings bestow gifts which are different from the
persons who receive them; but God gives not only those gifts, but he gives also
the very persons who receive them to themselves, for he has given me to myself,
and every living being has he given to himself; for the expression, "I will
establish my covenant with thee," is equivalent to, I will give thee to
thyself. (2.225) And all those who are truly lovers of God desire eagerly to
escape from the storm of multiplied affairs and business in which there is
always tempestuous weather, and rough sea, and confusion, and to anchor in the
calm and safe untroubled haven of virtue. (2.226) Do you not see what is said
about the wise Abraham who "is standing before the Lord?"{101}{Genesis
18:22.} For when was it likely that the mind would be able to stand, no longer
inclining to different sides like the balance in a scale, except when it is
opposite to God, beholding him and being beheld by him? (2.227) For perfect
absence of motion comes to it in two ways, either from beholding him with whom
nothing can be compared, because he is not attracted by anything resembling
himself, or from being beheld by him, because ... which he considered worthy,
the ruler has assigned to himself alone as the most excellent of beings. And
indeed a divine admonition was given in the following terms to Moses:
"Stand thou here with Me,"{102}{Deuteronomy 5:31.} by which injunction
both these things appear to be intimated, first, the fact that the good man is
not moved, and secondly, the universal stability of the living God.

XXXIV.
(2.228) For, in real truth, whatever is akin or near to God is appropriated by
him, becoming steady and stationary by reason of his unchangeableness; and the
mind, being at rest, well knows how great a blessing rest is, and admiring, its
own beauty, it conceives that either it is assigned to God alone as his, or else
to that intermediate nature which is between the mortal and the immortal race;
(2.229) at all events, it says, "And I stood in the midst between the Lord
and You,"{103}{Deuteronomy 10:10.} not meaning by these words that he was
standing on his own feet, but wishing to indicate that the mind of the wise man,
being delivered from all storms and wars, and enjoying unruffled calm and
profound peace, is superior indeed to man, but inferior to God. (2.230) For the
ordinary human mind is influenced by opinion, and is thrown into confusion by
any passing circumstances; but the other is blessed and happy, and free from all
participation in evil. And the good man is on the borders, so that one may
appropriately say that he is neither God nor man, but that he touches the
extremities of both, being connected with the mortal race by his manhood, and
with the immortal race by his virtue. (2.231) And there is something which
closely resembles this in the passage of scripture concerning the high priest;
"For when," says the scripture, "he goes into the holy of holies,
he will not be a man till he has gone out Again."{104}{Leviticus 16:17.}
But if at that time he is not a man, it is clear that he is not God either, but
a minister of God, belonging as to his mortal nature to creation, but as to his
immortal nature to the uncreated God. (2.232) And he is placed in the middle
class until he again goes forth among the things which belong to the body and to
the flesh. And this is the order of things according to nature, when the mind,
being entirely occupied with divine love, bends its course towards the
temple
of
God
, and approaches it with all possible earnestness and zeal, it becomes inspired,
and forgets all other things, and forgets itself also. It remembers him alone,
and depends on him alone, who is attended by it as by a body-guard, and who
receives its ministrations, to whom it consecrates and offers up the sacred and
untainted virtues. (2.233) But when the inspiration has ceased, and the
excessive desire has relaxed, then it returns from divine things and becomes a
man again, mixing with human affairs, which were awaiting him in the vestibule,
that they might carry him off while gazing only on the things in them.

XXXV.
(2.234) Moses therefore describes the perfect man as being neither God nor man,
but, as I said before, something on the border between uncreated and the
perishable nature. Again, he classes him who is improving and advancing towards
perfection in the region between the dead and the living, meaning by the
"living" those persons who dwell with wisdom, and by "the
dead" those who rejoice in folly; (2.235) for it is said with respect to
Aaron, that "He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was
Stayed."{105}{Numbers 16:48.} For he who is making progress is not reckoned
among those who are dead as to the life of virtue, inasmuch as he has a desire
and admiration of what is honorable, nor among those who are living in extreme
and perfect prosperity, for there is still something wanting to the end, but he
touches both extremes; (2.236) on which account the expression, "the plague
was stayed," is very properly used rather than "the plague
ceased;" for in those who are perfect the things which break, and crush,
and destroy the soul cease; but in those who are advancing towards perfection,
they are only diminished, as if they were only cut short and checked.

XXXVI.
(2.237) Since then all steadiness, and stability, and the abiding for ever in
the same place unchangeably and immovably, is first of all seen in the living
God, and next in the word of the living God, which he has called his covenant;
and in the third place in the wise man, and in the fourth degree in him who is
advancing towards perfection, what could induce the wicked mind, which is liable
to all sorts of curses, to think that it is able to stand by itself, while it is
in reality borne about as in a deluge, and dragged hither and thither by the
incessant eddies of things flowing in through the dead and agitated body?
(2.238) "For I thought," says the scripture, "that I was standing
on the bank of the River:"{106}{Genesis 41:17.} and by the word river we
say that speech is symbolically meant, since both these things are borne
outward, and flow on with a vigorous and sustained speed. And the one is at one
time filled up with a great abundance of water, and the other with a quantity of
verbs and nouns, and at another time they are both empty and relaxed, and in a
state of quiescence; (2.239) again, they are of use inasmuch as the one
irrigates the fields, and the other fertilizes the souls of those who receive
it. And at times they are injurious by reason of overflowing, as then the one
deluges the land on its borders, and the other troubles and confuses the reason
of those who do not attend to it. (2.240) Therefore speech is compared to a
river, and the nature of speech is twofold, the one sort being better and the
other worse; that is, the better kind which does good, and that of necessity is
the worse kind which does harm; (2.241) and Moses has given most conspicuous
examples of each kind to those who are able to see, for he says, "For a
river goes out of Eden to water the Paradise, and from thence it is divided into
four Branches:"{107}{Genesis 2:10.} (2.242) and by the name Eden he means
the wisdom of the living God, and the interpretation of the name Eden is
"delight," because I imagine wisdom is the delight of God, and God is
the delight of wisdom, as it is said also in the Psalms, "Delight thou in
the Lord."{108}{psalm 36:4.} And the divine word, like a river, flows forth
from wisdom as from a spring, in order to irrigate and fertilize the celestial
and heavenly shoots and plants of such souls as love virtue, as if they were a
paradise. (2.243) And this sacred word is divided into four beginnings, by which
I mean it is portioned out into four virtues, each of which is a princess, for
to be divided into beginnings, {109}{there is an unavoidable obscurity in the
translation here. The Greek word archai, which means beginnings, or principles,
and also governments.} does not resemble divisions of place, but a kingdom, in
order than any one, after having shown the virtues as boundaries, may
immediately proceed to show the wise man who follows them to be king, being
elected a such, not by men, but by the only free nature which cannot err, and
which cannot be corrupted; (2.244) for those who behold the excellence of
Abraham say unto him, "Thou art a king, sent from God among
Us:"{110}{Genesis 23:6.} proposing as a maxim, for those who study
philosophy, that the wise man alone is a ruler and a king, and that virtue is
the only irresponsible authority and sovereignty.

XXXVII.
(2.245) Accordingly, one of the followers of Moses, having compared this speech
to a river, has said in the Psalms, "The
river
of
God
was filled with Water;"{111}{psalm 65:10.} and it is absurd to give such a
title to any of the rivers which flow upon the earth. But as it seems the
psalmist is here speaking of the divine word, which is full of streams and
wisdom, and which has no part of itself empty or desolate, or rather, as some
one has said, which is diffused everywhere over the universe, and is raised up
on high, on account of the continued and incessant rapidity of that ever-flowing
spring. (2.246) There is also another expression in the Psalms, such as this,
"The course of the river makes glad the city of
God
."{112}{psalm 45:5.} What city? For the holy city, which exists at present,
in which also the holy temple is established, at a great distance from any sea
or river, so that it is clear, that the writer here means, figuratively, to
speak of some other city than the visible city of
God
. (2.247) For, in good truth, the continual stream of the divine word, being
borne on incessantly with rapidity and regularity, is diffused universally over
everything, giving joy to all. (2.248) And in one sense he calls the world the
city of God, as having received the whole cup of the divine draught, ... and
being gladdened thereby, so as to have derived from it an imperishable joy, of
which it cannot be deprived for ever. But in another sense he applies this title
to the soul of the wise man, in which God is said also to walk, as if in a city,
"For," says God, "I will walk in you, and I will be your God in
You."{113}{Leviticus 26:12.} (2.249) And who can pour over the happy soul
which proffers its own reason as the most sacred cup, the holy goblets of true
joy, except the cup-bearer of God, the master of the feast, the word? not
differing from the draught itself, but being itself in an unmixed state, the
pure delight and sweetness, and pouring forth, and joy, and ambrosial medicine
of pleasure and happiness; if we too may, for a moment, employ the language of
the poets.

XXXVIII.
(2.250) But that which is called by the Hebrews the city of God is Jerusalem,
which name being interpreted means, "the sight of peace." So they do
not look for the city of the living God in the region of the earth, for it is
not made of wood or of stone, but seek it in the soul which is free from war,
and which proposes to those who are endowed with acuteness of sight a
contemplative and peaceful life; (2.251) since where could any find a more
venerable and holy abode for God amid all existing things, than the mind fond of
contemplation, which is eager to behold every thing and which does not, even in
a dream, feel a wish for sedition or disturbance? (2.252) And again, the
invisible spirit which is accustomed to converse with me in an unseen manner
prompts me with a suggestion, and says, O my friend, you seem to be ignorant of
an important and most desirable matter which I will explain to you completely;
for I have also in a most seasonable manner explained many other things to you
also. (2.253) Know, then, O excellent man, that God alone is the truest, and
most real, and genuine peace, and that every created and perishable essence is
continual war. For God is something voluntary, and mortal essence is necessity.
Whoever, therefore, is able to forsake war, and necessity, and creation, and
destruction, and to pass over to the uncreated being, to the immortal God, to
the voluntary principle, and to peace, may justly be called the abode and city
of
God
. (2.254) Do not, therefore, consider it a different thing whether you speak of
the sight of peace or the sight of God, as they are the same thing; because
peace is not only the companion but also the chief of powers of the living God,
which are distinguished by many names.

XXXIX.
(2.255) And, moreover, he says to the wise Abraham, "that he will give him
an inheritance of land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river
Euphrates,"{114}{Genesis 15:18.} not meaning a portion of the land so much
as a better portion in respect of our own selves. For our own body, and the
passions which exist in it, and which are engendered by it, are likened to the
river
of
Egypt
, but the soul and the passions which are dear to that are likened to the river
Euphrates
. (2.256) And here a doctrine is laid down, at once most profitable to life and
of the highest importance, that the good man has received for his inheritance
the soul and the virtues of the soul: just as, on the contrary, the wicked man
has received for his share the body and the vices of the body, and those which
are engendered by the body. (2.257) And the expression "from," has a
double sense. One, that by which the starting point from which it begins is
included; the other that by which it is excluded. For when we say that from
morning to evening there are twelve hours, or from the new moon to the end of
the month there are thirty days, we are including in our enumeration both the
first hour and the day of the new moon. And when any one says that such and such
a field is three or four furlongs distant from the city, he clearly means to
leave the city itself out of that measurement. (2.258) So that now, too, we must
consider that the expression, "from the river of Egypt," is to be
understood so as to include that river; for the writer intends to remove us to a
distance from the things of the body which are seen to exist in a constant flow
and course which is being destroyed and destroying, that so we may receive the
inheritance of the soul with the imperishable virtues, which are, moreover,
deserving of immortality. (2.259) Thus, therefore, by tracing it out diligently,
we have found that praiseworthy speech is likened to a river; but speech which
is deserving of blame is the very river of Egypt itself, untractable, unwilling
to learn, as one may say in a word, lifeless speech; for which reason it is also
changed into blood, {115}{Exodus 7:17.} as not being able to afford sustenance.
For the speech of ignorance is not wholesome, and it is productive of bloodless
and lifeless frogs, which utter only a novel and harsh sound, a noise painful to
the ear. (2.260) And it is said, likewise, that all the fish in that river were
destroyed. And by the fish are here figuratively meant the conceptions; for
these things float about and exist in speech as in a river, resembling living
things and filling the river with life. But in uninstructed speech all
conceptions die; for it is not possible to find any thing intelligent in it, but
only, as some one has said, some disorderly and unmusical voices of jackdaws.

XL.
(2.261) We have now then said enough on these subjects. But since he not only
confesses that he saw in his dream, a standing and a river, but also the banks
of a river, as his words are, "I thought that I was standing by the bank (cheilos)
of the River."{116}{Genesis 41:17.} It must be desirable to say a few
seasonable things also about the bank. (2.262) Now there appears to be two most
necessary objects on account of which nature has adapted lips (cheileÁ) to all
animals, and especially to men; one for the same of tranquility, for they are
the strongest bulwark and fortification of the voice; the other for the sake of
distinctness, for it is through them that the stream of words issues forth. For
when they are closed speech is checked; for it is impossible that it should be
borne outward if they are not parted. (2.263) And by these means nature prepares
and trains man for both objects, speech and silence, watching the appropriate
time for each employment. As for instance, is anything said worth listening to?
Then attend, raising no obstacle, in perfect quiet, according to the injunction
of Moses, "Be silent and Hear."{117}{Deuteronomy 27:19.} (2.264) For
of those persons who mix themselves up with contentious discussions there is not
one who can properly be considered as either speaking or listening; but this is
only advantageous to him who is about to do so. (2.265) Again, when you see,
amid the wars and disasters of life, the merciful hand of God and his favorable
power held over you and standing in defense of you, be silent yourself; for that
champion stands in no need of any assistance. And there are proofs of this fact
recorded in the sacred writings; such, for instance, as the verse, "The
Lord will fight for us, and ye shall be Silent."{118}{Exodus 14:14.}
(2.266) And if you see the genuine offspring and the firstborn of Egypt
destroyed, namely desire, and pleasures, and pain, and fear, and iniquity, and
mirth, and intemperance, and all the other qualities which are similar and akin
to these, then marvel and be silent, dreading the terrible power of God; (2.267)
for, say the scriptures, "Not a dog shall move his tongue, nor shall
anything, man or beast, utter a Sound;"{119}{Exodus 11:7.} which is
equivalent to saying, It does not become either the impudent tongue to bark and
curse--nor the man that is within us, that is to say, our dominant mind; nor the
cattle-like beast which is within us, that is to say, the outward sense--to
boast, when all the evil that was in us has been utterly destroyed, and when an
ally from without comes of his own accord to hold his shield over us.

XLI.
(2.268) But there are many occasions which are not well suited to silence: and
if we go to the language of ordinary prose, of which we may again see memorials
laid up, how did there, ever an unexpected participation in good take place to
any one? It is well, therefore, to give thanks and to sing hymns in honor of him
who bestowed it. (2.269) What, then, is the good? The passion which is attacking
us is dead, and is thrown out on its face without burial. Let us not delay, but
standing still, let us sing that most sacred and becoming hymn, feeling that we
are command to say to all men, "Let us sing unto the Lord, for he has
triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the
Sea."{120}{Exodus 15:1.} (2.270) But the rout and destruction of the
passions is indeed a good, but not a perfect good; but the discovery of wisdom
is a surpassing good, and when that is found all the people will sing harmonies
and melodies, not with one kind of music only, but with every sort; (2.271) for
then, says the scripture, "Israel sang this song at the
Well;"{121}{Numbers 21:17.} that is to say, in triumph for the fact that
knowledge, which had long been hidden but which was sought for, had at length
been found by all men, though lying deep by nature; the duty of which was to
irrigate the rational fields existing in the souls of those men who are fond of
contemplation. (2.272) What, then, shall we say? When we bring home the
legitimate fruit of the mind, does not the sacred scripture enjoin us to display
in our reason, as in a sacred basket, the first fruits of our fertility; a
specimen of the glorious flowers, and shoots, and fruits which the soul has
brought forth, bidding us speak out distinctly, and to utter panegyrics on the
God who brings things to perfection, and to say, "I have cleared away the
things which were holy out of my house, and I have arranged them in the house of
God:"{122}{Deuteronomy 26:13.} appointing as stewards and guardians of
them, men selected for their superior merit, and giving them the charge of these
sacred things; (2.273) and these persons are Levites, proselytes, and orphans,
and widows. But some are suppliants, some are emigrants and fugitives, some are
persons widowed and destitute of all created things, but enrolled as belonging
to God, the genuine husband and father of the soul which is inclined to worship.

XLII.
(2.274) In this way, then, it is most proper both to speak and to be silent. But
the wicked adopt an exactly contrary course; for they are admirers of a blamable
kind of silence, and of an interpretation open to reproach, practising both
lines of conduct to their own destruction and that of others. (2.275) But the
greater part of their employment consists in saying what they ought not; for
having opened their mouth and leaving it unbridled, like an unrestrained
torrent, they allow their speech to run on indiscriminately, as the poet says,
dragging on thousands of profitless sayings; (2.276) therefore those who have
devoted themselves to the advocacy of pleasure and appetite, and every sort of
excessive desire, building up irrational passion as a fortification against
dominant reason, and preparing themselves for a contentious sort of discussion,
have come at last to a regular dispute, hoping to be able to blind the race
which is endowed with the faculty of sight, and to throw it down precipices, and
into depths from which it will not be able at any future time to emerge. (2.277)
But some have not only put themselves forward as rivals to human virtue, but
have proceeded to such a pitch of folly as to oppose themselves also to divine
virtue. Therefore Pharaoh, the king of the land of Egypt, is spoken of as the
leader of the company which is devoted to the passions; for it is said to the
prophet, "Behold, he is going forth to the river, and thou shall stand in
the way to meet him, on the bank of the River;"{123}{Exodus 7:15.} (2.278)
for it is the peculiar characteristic of the wise man to go forth to the
rapidity and continual pouring forth of the irrational passion; and it is also
characteristic of one man to go forth of the irrational passion; and it is also
characteristic of the wise man to oppose with exceeding vigor the arguments on
behalf of pleasure and desire, not with his feet, but with his mind, firmly and
immoveably, standing on the bank of the river; that is to say, on the mouth and
on the tongue, which are the organs of speech. For standing firmly on these, he
will be able to overturn and defeat the plausible specious arguments which
advocate the cause of passion. (2.279) But the enemy of the race which is
endowed with the power of seeing, is the people of Pharaoh, which never ceased
attacking, and persecuting, and enslaving virtue, until ... it paid the penalty
for the evils which it inflicted ... being overwhelmed in the sea of those
iniquities ... which it excited ... So that that period exhibited an
extraordinary sight, a victory which was in no doubt, and a joy greater than
could have been hoped for. (2.280) On which account it is said, "And Israel
saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea-Shore."{124}{Exodus 14:30.} Great
indeed was the hand which fought for them, compelling those who had sharpened
these organs against the truth to fall by the mouth, and lips, and speech, so
that they who had taken up these weapons against others should perish by their
own arms and not by those of others. (2.281) And this announces three most
glorious things to the soul; one, the destruction of the passions of Egypt;
another, that this has taken place in no other spot than near the salt and
bitter springs, as if on the shore of the sea, by which sophistical reason, that
enemy of virtue, is poured forth; and, lastly, the sight of the disaster.
(2.282) For no glorious thing can be invisible, but should be brought to the
light and brilliancy of the sun. For so also the contrary, namely evil, should
be thrust into deep darkness, and should be accounted deserving of night. And it
may indeed by chance happen to some one to behold this: but what is really good
should be always beheld by more piercing eyes. And what is so good as that what
is good should live, and what is evil should die?

XLIII.
(2.283) There were, therefore, three persons who uttered atrocious words which
were to reach even to heaven; these men devoted themselves to studies against
nature, or rather against their own souls, saying that this universe was the
only thing which was perceptible to the outward senses, and visible, having
never been created, and being never destined to be destroyed but being uncreated
and imperishable, not requiring any superintendence, or care, or regulation, or
management. (2.284) Afterwards piling up fresh attempts one upon another, they
built up a doctrine which was not approved, and raised it to a height like a
tower; for it is said, "And the whole earth spoke one
Language,"{125}{Genesis 11:1.} an inharmonious agreement of all the
portions of the soul, for the purpose of overthrowing that which is the most
comprehensive of all existing principles, namely, authority. (2.285) Therefore,
a great and irresistable hand overthrew them when they were hoping to mount up
even to heaven by their devices, for the purpose of destroying the everlasting
kingdom; and it also dashed down the doctrine which they had built up; and the
place is called confusion: (2.286) a very appropriate name for such an audacious
and wicked attempt; for what can be more productive of confusion than anarchy?
Are not houses which have no manager full of offences and disturbances? (2.287)
And are not cities which are left unprovided with a king destroyed by the
domination of the mob, the opposite evil to kingly power, and at the same time
the greatest of all evils? And have not countries, and nations, and regions of
the earth, the governments of which have been put down, lost all their ancient
and great prosperity? (2.288) And why need I speak of matters of human history?
For even the other species of animals, flocks of birds, and herds of terrestrial
beasts, and shoals of aquatic creatures, never exist without some leader of
their company; but they always desire and always pay attention to their own
leader, as being the sole cause of the advantages they receive; at whose absence
they are scattered and destroyed. (2.289) Do we suppose then, that in the case
of earthly creatures, which are the most insignificant portion of the universe,
authority is the cause of good things and anarchy the cause of evils, but that
the world itself is not filled with extreme happiness by reason of the
administration of God its king? (2.290) Therefore they have suffered punishment
corresponding to their iniquities: for having polluted the sacred doctrine, they
saw themselves polluted in like manner, all authority being taken away from
among them; and being thrown themselves into confusion, but not having really
caused any. But as long as they were left unpunished, being puffed up by insane
pride, they sought to overthrow the authority of the universe by unholy
speeches; and they set themselves up as rulers and kings, attributing the
irresistible power of God to creatures which are perpetually coming to an end
and being destroyed.

XLIV.
(2.291) Therefore these ridiculous men giving themselves tragic airs and using
inflated language, are accustomed to speak thus: we are they who are leaders; we
are kings; On us all things depend. Who, except ourselves, is the cause of good
and of the contrary? To whom, except to us, can be doing well or ill be truly
attributed? They talk nonsense too in another manner, saying, that all things
depend upon an invisible power, which they fancy presides over all human and
divine affairs in the whole world. (2.292) Uttering such insolent falsehoods as
these, if after intoxication they have become sober, and have come to themselves
again, and feel ashamed of the intoxication to which they have given way coming
under the dominion of the external senses, and if they reproach themselves for
the evil actions which they have been led on to commit by folly, giving ear to
their new counsellor, which never flatters, and which cannot be corrupted,
namely, repentance, having propitiated the merciful power of the living God by
sacred hymns of repentance instead of profane songs, they will find entire
forgiveness. (2.293) But if they are restive and obstinate for ever, and indulge
in wanton behavior, as if they were independent, and free, and the rulers of
others, then by a necessity which is deaf to all entreaties and implacable, they
will learn to feel their own nothingness in all things both small and great;
(2.294) for the driver who mounts upon them, putting a bridle, upon this world,
as though it were a winged chariot, drawing back with main strength the reins
which before were loose, and pressing the bits severely, will remind them by
whip and spur of his authority as master, which they, like wicked servants, have
forgotten by reason of the gentle and merciful temper of their manager; (2.295)
for bad servants, looking upon the gentleness of masters as anarchy, fancy
themselves entirely free from the power of any master at all, until their owner
checks their great and increasing disease by applying punishment as a remedy.
(2.296) For which reason the expression is used of "a lawless soul, which
with its lips distinguishes well-doing and evil-doing, and then will
subsequently announce its own Sin."{126}{Leviticus 5:4.} What sayest thou,
O soul, full of insolence? For dost thou know what real good or real evil, real
justice or real holiness, are? or what is suited to what? (2.297) The knowledge
of those things and the power of regulating them belongs to God alone, and to
whoever is dear to him. And witness is borne to this assertion by the scripture
in which it is said, "I will kill and I will cause to live; I will smite
and I will Heal."{127}{Deuteronomy 32:39.} (2.298) But the mind which was
wise in its own conceit had not even a superficial dreaming intimation of the
things placed above it; but, wretched that it was, it was so completely carried
away by the wind of vain opinion that it swore that those things which it had
erroneously imagined stood firmly and solidly. (2.299) If, therefore, the
violence and convulsion of the disease begin to relax, the sparks of returning
health becoming gradually re-kindled, will compel it at first to confess its
error, that is to say, to reproach itself, and afterwards to become a suppliant
at the altar, entreating with prayers, and supplications, and sacrifices, that
it may only obtain pardon.

XLV.
(2.300) After this who can fairly raise the question why the historian of the
scriptures has spoken of the river of Egypt only as having banks and has made no
such mention of the Euphrates or of any other of the sacred rivers; for here he
says, "Thou shall stand in the way to meet him by the bank of the
river." (2.301) And yet perhaps some persons in a spirit of ridicule will
say that it is not right to bring such matters as these forward for
investigation, for that it rather displays a spirit of cavilling than does any
good. But I imagine that such things, like sweetmeats, are prepared in the
sacred scriptures, for the improvement of those who read them, and that we ought
not to condemn the curiosity of those who investigate such matters, but that we
should rather blame their indolence if they did not investigate them. (2.302)
For our present discussion is not about the history of rivers but about ways of
life, which are compared to the streams of rivers, running in opposite
directions to one another. For the life of the good man consists in actions; but
that of the wicked man is seen to consist only in words. And speech [...] in the
tongue, and mouth, and lips, and [...]